Fighting til the end
by SilverPedals1402
Summary: (HIATUS) Villains made by the readers attack NY constantly. Sometimes one at a time and sometimes two or more at once. But they won't give team iron man a break. So what will they do to get out of this problem?
1. Iron Crusher

**OKAY so sorry for the long wait for the real chapter so yeah here it is and Please read A/N at the bottom. I need your help! **

**This is an edited and better version of the first chapter and hope it is GOOD enough to review on! So read and please ENJOY! **

**P.S. Villain was made by Carpetbakr and she get's credit for the character! Thank you!  
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Rhodey was doing his homework while Tony busied himself on a piece of his armor on the other side of the armory. Pepper was watching over Tony's shoulder at the part he was working on. He was making a new armor. It was an upgraded edition of the mark II armor. She always loved watching him work on his projects when she was bored.

"What is that armor for anyways?" She asked when Tony sat back on his heels to analyze what he had left to do.

"Just has more security. And can hold a charge for longer. So my heart monitor wont fail as easily." He said as he rubbed his sore shoulder.

"What do you mean more security? Doesn't your armor have enough security?" She asked with a small smile.

"Yes, but with more security I can keep you guys more safe. And the entire city a ton more safer if I can detect the villains energy source before they attack. One can never have to much security."

She nodded in understanding. She was expecting a bigger change, but was mildly disappointed to find out it was pretty much nothing. But either way she was still excited for the new armor to get done. Even though there was small activity with the villains, it was still best to be ready. Because that luck wouldn't last very long. At some point it would fall and they could be in serious danger. But who knows that kind of stuff? Not a great deal of people. So again it was best to be prepared. Or better safe than sorry.

For the next few hours, nothing really changed. Tony was still working while chatting with Pepper and Rhodey only spoke to ask Tony a question or to look up at the loud racket that Tony was making. It was a peaceful day. A very pleasant Sunday for the three of them. But every great day, has to end. And this time it ended with a phone. Well a phone call.

"Hello?" Tony answered.

"Oh hey Tony why are you picking up James' phone?" Roberta asked across the line. She had meant to call Rhodey, but instead she got Tony.

"Oh sorry about that. He um..broke his phone and I just finished fixing it. So yeah and Rhodey was just..right here..." He looked around but he couldn't find his friend. He turned to Pepper. "Where'd Rhodey go?"

She just shrugged giving him no answer. Tony continued. "I don't know where Rhodey is...Um I'll go find him. Bye Roberta."

"Tony just make sure you come home to eat. Okay?"

He nodded and remembered that she couldn't see him. "Yes I will bye!"

Instantly after she hung up, Tony stuffed the phone in his pocket and checked all around the armory. He was majorly relieved to find that his friend had just moved to another room to finish his homework from all the noise that Tony was making. Normally Tony kept it quiet for Rhodey, but when he finished the upgrade on his new armor, he started on Rhodey's suit and had to hit the metal in place to put something in the armor and then had to hit it back in place.

"Oh god! I thought we lost you somewhere!" Tony said with much relief.

"No it's just that you were making that horribly loud sound and I cannot for the life of me concentrate on things when it's super loud. So sorry if I freaked you out or something." He said sarcastically as he closed his book.

"Sorry just adding a few things to war machine. But your mom called and said it's time for dinner. So come on." Tony replied calmly.

Rhodey sighed and held his hand out. He was staring at Tony expectantly while he tapped his foot. Tony looked back at him with curiosity and confusion. He had no idea what Rhodey was doing, but it looked like he was waiting for something. "What?" He asked loudly.

"My phone." He said it as if it was obvious.

Tony straightened up and began digging through his pocket. He pulled out the phone only to have it be his own and not Rhodey's. "Oops wrong pocket..." He mumbled and searched the other pocket coming in contact with another phone and wrapped his fingers around it and pulled it out. He handed it to Rhodey's expecting hand and they turned around and walked out.

Pepper gathered her stuff that she stored in the corner of the armory and scrambled out after the boys. She walked out into the air and she could tell it was going to rain. She just somehow could smell the difference in the air and know that it's bound to rain. Plus, the weather girl said it would, and the clouds just prove it. So three things point to the odds of it raining. She loved rain. But if it got her sick she swears that she despised it and then when she feels better she goes straight back to liking it. Her and rain had a complex relationship.

As Pepper predicted, it began to drizzle and soon became a down pour. The only reason that the tree got soaked was because the new armory was a little ways away from Rhodey and Tony's house. And they normally walk to the place they are heading to. So they walked together in complete silence. Tony every once in a while would glance over at Pepper just to make sure she was okay and when she smiled back, though she didn't know the real reason he kept looking back at her, he was glad that she was alright and go right back to ducking his head against the rain.

They split ways when they saw Pepper's apartment and she made her way to the front door and turned around to wave goodbye. The two boys waved in response and spun around and sped walk the rest of the way. It wasn't a very long way. So when they got there, they were told to take shoes and shirts of outside, so they didn't get everything wet when they came in and Roberta gave them towels. Once they were dried off, they both sent themselves to their rooms and got changed and tossed their cloths in the dirty cloths bin.

They went to the dinner table and sat down beside each other with Roberta on the other side of the table passing out plates and eating utensils. "So what are you working on now Tony?"

Tony almost choked on the bite he had as Roberta asked that question. "what?"

"Calm down! I just asked what you were working on." She said and took a quick bite.

Slowly he nods. "Security...and other little things." It bordered the truth but wasn't the complete truth. But of course as always he couldn't tell her the truth.

They continued to eat with only a small amount of conversation. It was only a few minutes until it became silent and the sound of the news from the radio on the counter seemed to be louder. It was announcing a few things about a charity going on and then the current crime status came on. That was where Tony and Rhodey seemed to be most interested in. Roberta said something but being so absorbed in the story that they didn't hear her. Or at least didn't answer. Roberta noticed that they did that a lot when the news came on and soon after that happened Tony or both would disappear.

"What is so interesting about the news right now?" She asked.

No reply. The news was saying that there was a robbery at a science facility and that they found a mysterious box that had been left behind. And Some important equipment was stolen. No one and not even anyone at Stark international can't figure out what it was that was left behind. The police still couldn't pick what ever it was left. And was heavily guarded.

Tony was now completely into it and began thinking of who it could have been. It could be Aim. After all they did love science. But then again it could be Fix getting equipment to build something. But what was it that was left behind? He couldn't figure it out. He looked over to see if Rhodey had any idea and only got a shaken head. Meaning; no.

"I gotta go..." Tony said after deciding to go check it out.

Roberta was about to object and tell him to sit down that instant, when he shoved himself out of the chair and ran out side as fast as his legs could carry him. As soon as he was outside he armored up praying that Roberta wasn't watching and flew off. It was still raining. And it was even more of a down pour. Luckily his armor had protection over water. He seriously wished that the air was more clear cause if he ended up in a fight it wouldn't be an easy fight. This rain made it nearly impossible to see. But he dealt with it.

He flew for a while and at one point he scanned the city below him looking at the streets that were filled with umbrella's of different colors. He sometimes just for the fun of it flew around New York City just to see the view. He wasn't much of an environmentalist, but it was fascinating all together. To see the view and be able to be moving was exhilarating.

He arrived at the scene of the robbery and detected through the rain that it was covered by S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents or guarded by them. The police were also there. He landed by some police that were standing by their car and stole a glance at the building. A wall was caved in and the rubble was going outwards. So way from the inside. At Tony's angle he saw the corner of what have most likely the strange box that was left behind.

The two police officers were shocked that iron man had shown up. Not the average person got to be this close to iron man unless you get lucky or unlucky that he crashes right next to you, otherwise it was just pure luck. Or you could be a police man. They got to see him a bit more often then the others do. But they shook off the shock for the moment and walked carefully next to Iron man who was looking at the building. As they got closer iron man turned his head towards the two and they stopped dead in their tracks about a foot away.

"What happened here officers?" Iron man said directly to them. Their eyes widened but after a moment the shock of being right next to him wore off. These two particular officers just so happened to be pretty big fans of iron man. Not in a girly way, but were always surprised when they saw iron man around them. "If you don't mind me asking. If I can help I need to know."

"Yes we know. There was a big light and this box was there and then things disappeared. There was a beam and it broke the wall and every time someone touches it, they get thrown back." One of the two police men said.

Iron man nodded and said, "I'm going in. I need to see what it is so I can help."

With that said he left and walked passed the staring agents and right to the box. It looked really high tech and hard to make. It was black and metallic and held a kind of shine cause it was raining on it. He stared at it wondering what it could be. It just stood there reflection all the rain drops of it with the sound of a rapid splat. It really confused Tony for it didn't look like anything other than a high tech box. But it looked like it could carry a person in there...

Despite the police telling him not to touch it or at least mentioned what happens when you touch it, Tony still reached out to touch it. It was a stupid thing to do, but it was as if he was being compelled or pulled to it like a magnetic force. But when his finger caught contact with the tip of the corner of the box, Tony was mildly electrocuted, but was only a bit shaken for his armor protected him.

But even being shocked he couldn't stop him self from reaching at it again. As he got closer and closer the more he wanted to pull his hand away. But no matter how much will he put into stopping himself he never stopped. Well that was until a loud familiar voice shot through the cold air. Even pass the rain that kept raining even harder.

"Don't touch it again you shell-head!"

Instantly Tony jumped back away from the strange box and turned his body towards the yell. Even though he was just called a shell-head, he was grateful for the interruption. It stopped himself from shocking himself again. And most likely again after that. Who he saw was the legendary Nick Fury. Well not to Tony, but to many others.

"Oh it's you fury. Do you have any idea what this is?" Tony said in a relieved Tone.

"No but to my observations, I'd say that someone or something is in it." Fury said in a flat tone as he always spoke in.

Tony nodded. "Yes that is what I had thought to... But it looks like it says something..." He said while leaning over the box.

He tried to read the small wordings that wrapped themselves across the box and kinda looked like they were glowing in the rain and were moving in small waves. As much as he tried he couldn't decipher what they were saying. They actually looked like a code for something. But just as he was about to lean back and gaze at it some more from a different angle, it opened up and slammed into Tony and was so strong that it sent him across the room with a slight shock.

He stretched after standing up and spun around to see what just did that. Some thing was crawling out of it. It was bright in the room as if there was the brightest light ever in the room and with the rain it only kept it dim, but made a god awful glare. Once the room cleared up they looked at the thing that just finish emerging from the slightly slanted box. What it was was so shocking it made Tony Step back and Fury to gasp.

It was an iron man armor. Weather or not it was a iron man, it didn't look good. It had the same painting as iron man but the main color was black instead of red. The smaller parts were a dark shade of blue. It looked around the room taking in its surroundings. Its eyes locked with Tony's eyes and lingered there. There was absolute silence. Other then the steady beat of rain that still rose in speed there was nothing.

"Iron man! Do you have anything to do with this!" Fury yelled.

Tony broke the stare down between him and the mysterious iron man and glared at Fury behind the armor's mask. "If I did I probably would have said something about it, or not be here. Plus I have no clue who this is."

"Nobody here should know who I am." A voice sounded and they all turned to the source of the sound. It was the man in the armor.

Tony realized the man was still staring at him and it was making him feel a bit freaked out. Well more that he already was. "then who are you then?"

"I am _Iron Crusher_"**(Made by Carpetbakr!)**

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><p>(With Pepper.)<p>

She was sitting on the couch and watching TV when Rhodey had called. She had just finished up with homework and dinner. Her dad had left for work with an emergency at some science Facility. She answered the phone with a distracted "hello?"

"Hey Pepper what you doing?" Rhodey asked.

"Nothing. Just watching some TV. I am like super bored. I really wish that I could hand out with you and Tony, my dad just left to go to some science facility. He said something strange popped up and was needed." She threw up her free hand in exasperation.

"That's where Tony is right now. My mom said I have to finish all of the chores so I can't him. But I snuck this call in."

"Why am I never there when the action happens!" She yelled in despair.

Rhodey flinched away from the phone. "Calm down Pepper! I'm not there either so yeah...but I gotta go!"

As quickly as he called he hung up. She listened to the dead tone is shock that it was Rhodey that hung up on her and not Tony. Cause normally it was him. And not Rhodey, but then again if he didn't want to be caught by his mom then he'd better hang up quick. Or else he would have to pay the consequences. That would be no fun with Roberta. So she decided that if Rhodey couldn't call Tony then she would. And she switched what hand the phone was in and dialed Tony up. She listen to the phone as it rang. Finally he answered.

"Hi Pep. I can't really talk right now." Tony said and on his side of the line the person called iron crusher was busy attacking Tony. After he moved to hit the shield agents that began to shoot at him Iron man stepped in and shot him back with his repulsor's. Sending him flying. Though he recovered fast than a regular villain would.

"what's going on?" She answered with worry cause she could her Tony grunt and a loud crash.

Iron Crusher shot him with the uni-beam and was grinning under the armor. He knew his armor was better than Iron man's armor. He knew that the Iron man here was weaker than him. If he could just get the right hits...then maybe He'd be pretty beat up and practically vulnerable.

As Iron crusher approached a panting iron man, who was still on alert, the agents and the police were slowing down their fires. They then began to either watch or leave. Iron Man Shot at Iron crusher with the uni-beam and it sent him flying to the other wall though luckily the wall never crashed. Tony was picking up on something. But as always the obvious never really came to him and he let the thought slide and just fired again only to miss and to be hit with a more powerful uni-beam. That left him weak.

Tony hung up on Pepper with out answering her question and she hissed to herself for being hung up on again.

(Back at the facility)

Tony Flew around in all the space that the small room allowed as he dodged Iron Crusher's repulsor's. One hit him and sent him into a police officer and both of then outside. Tony despite the danger he helped the police up and the police ran to get his distance from the fight. Iron Crusher walked up to Tony and was charging up his uni-beam up again and was starting to aim at Tony. He knew it was Tony. It was Tony Stark that he was after and not iron man but if the two were one and the same, then that means that he is also after iron man.

He smiled at the scene. He loved it when people backed away from him. Or when they were losing. He was spiteful. He was mean. Where he came from people cowered away from him when they saw him. He made the most top villains of his dimension look like fluffy bunnies. Which was good. Cause if someone else was more evil or malicious than him, he'd be jealous and would make sure that he was more evil. Being a genius really helped with the evil plans and weapons. He is the most smart person in his age group. And most likely any other age group.

Iron crusher fired his fully charged Uni-beam at Tony and Tony was too slow to dodge it. It hit him square in the center of Tony's chest and just as that happened Rhodey seemed to just call.

"Tony what is going on? What was it?" Rhodey asked.

Tony wasn't knocked out, but was too weak to answer. He moved to get up and when he did he wavered and his vision blurred. He fell back down with a soft groan. He tried to get back up, not wanting to be left down, but every time he rose to get up he would feel the searing pain and fall back down. He must have damaged the heart monitor. He groaned louder when iron crusher proudly stepped on to Tony's fallen form.

"Tony? Oh no! Are you alright man? Your heart just dropped! Tony?" Rhodey yelled only making Tony get a headache. Rhodey was still waiting for all the things to pop up. Like view of what was going on. But he had to wait a few minutes for the satellite to find Tony.

When the two minutes passed he wished he'd been wrong when he kept thinking that he was going to be majorly hurt. And he was. His heart monitor was dim and Tony was laying under a different iron man that was black and blue. _Who is he? _ And Rhodey noticed that Tony was still awake, but to weak to speak. Rhodey thought for a few minutes at what he should do. And in that few minutes, The strange second Iron man had already flew off carrying Tony who had no choice but to let him carry him.

Rhodey after seeing that, ran out the door without his mom knowing to go rescue his friend. And even though this sounds wrong of him to think, but he just hoped that if Tony was being dragged off to be killed that he was ended slowly so he'd still be alive when he is found. And not the speedy death and he'd be dead already and be lost...

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><p><strong>HOPE it was good! I need more villains People I got some, but i am aiming for more so yea read details below! Review and Keep and eye out for the next chapter! ^.^<br>**

**DETAIL READ THIS IS IMPORTANT...**

**For this story i need multiple villains. not just one. Not just a couple. So I am asking if you would like to make up your own villain and i will put them in the ****story in future parts. So if you do Review or PM me what the character looks like or you can even have it be yourself. i dont care. I also need a name, nickname maybe, weapon or special ability, Target so like on enemy targets Tony and pretty much trying to kill him and another one targets Rhodey or something... I need as much detail as possible or at least the big parts. AND maybe some flaws...? **

**SO you need: LOOKS, NAME/NICKNAME, WEAPON/SPECIAL ABILITY, TARGET, MISSION, FLAWS, AND DETAILS! Other wise your villain will not be as close to what you want him/her to be. so yeah...As of right now, i only have to villains and you've met one of them. Thanks Carpetbakr for the two villains! I NEED MORE!**


	2. Iron Crusher part 2

**Okay so yeah this is the second chapter and if you haven't read the real first chapter yet then you have to if you want this to make sense. ** **but Thanks for the few reviews i really like them and i really will take more villain ideas that are created by you... So yeah...**

**so this is my plan for right now- 2 chapters per/villain and some times they will come back later on... so on with some shout outs!**

**Carpetbakr-**** I am so glad that you enjoyed the chapter and here is your second chapter on iron crusher! Thanks again for the idea...Most of them were yours.. but i dont care.**

**Superhero's is my thing(Anonymous)-** **Sorry i didn't put your idea in but I want to have brand new made up villains, but if you want i can have a chapter that has ghost _in _it but not the main villain...sorry**.

**Hope you guys will start liking this story better. **

Iron crusher brought Tony to the pier. Tony was getting more energy back but lost that little ounce of it when he was thrown down to the ground harshly. Iron crusher held him up by the neck and smiled menacingly. He loved that he was winning. He laughed so Tony could hear his enjoyment in bringing him down. Tony was glaring at the man. But the next thing that happened was what made Tony really freeze. Iron Crusher opened his mask... He was Tony.

"Surprised?" Iron crusher Smirked evilly. "Yes I am you. Well in a different dimension, I am. But I hate people. I hate saving their pathetic little lives. I stopped ages ago. Not that I did for very long. It was only a couple of weeks then I realized they didn't appreciate me. All they did was try to take me down and steal my tech."

Tony was to shocked to speak now. He got stronger from the break and could speak now, but now he was to shocked. Rhodey kept saying his name and asking him what was going on. He was so close to Tony. But the rain made it hard to see exactly where Tony was. He knew he was at the pier, but that was pretty big.

"So now your time has expired and your days of saving people is over. Those people don't know a hero when one is standing under their obnoxious nose. So let's see how they cope with things with out you!" He knew that there was war machine, but the real person didn't use it very well.

Right after he said that he elevated Tony up a bit more and chucked him out into the water as far as he could. Being heavy Tony sunk down deep into the water. When he tried to fly up to the surface he was just shot and thrown farther out. Then the hit somehow caused the repulsors to fail and Tony was stuck their til they were back online. Hopefully they were online soon or his oxygen could run out.

Iron crushers system gave him the stats of how Iron man's were and they didn't sound well. Multiple system failures. Low on oxygen, and luckily one of the systems that shut down was the con systems. But then that gave him an idea. He hacked into Tony's con systems and switched them over to his armor and called Rhodey who was near by.

"Oh god I thought you'd be dead! Did you beat who ever it was?" Rhodey's relieved tone asked.

Evil Tony smiled. "He was pretty strong, but yes I did. But I have to get out of my armor now. Otherwise it will shut down and I will be stuck in it."

"Oh ok..." Rhodey said. "Where are you?"

"Oh just meet me at your house okay? I have something to do really quick." Evil Tony said.

"Well if you say so. You sure your alright?"

Evil Tony rolled his eyes in annoyance. "I'm fine Rhodey."

In his dimension, he called Rhodey, James. He was best friends with Salt(Pepper in evil Tony's dimension.) She had a different name, but that was her nickname. No body really knew her full name. But they just went along with it.

Rhodey hung up. Evil Tony took off his armor and it was the same exact backpack that Good Tony's was. But underneath, he wore the same cloths but the shirt was blue and not red. He sighed and looked over the water. Even with the hard rain he could see the water. He was looking for any movement that would signal that Tony is coming out somehow. It was just his luck that there was no deep end and there was no shallow end. It was a complete drop off. So even if he walked over to the shore, well there was no shore, he wouldn't be above anywhere he went.

With the satisfaction that Tony wouldn't come out, he smiled to himself. He was just plain evil. His plan was to stay with Tony's friend just for awhile to make sure that Rhodey or Pepper didn't go sure for Tony. And save him before he died. Just to make sure that they think that they still have Tony. So he began to walk thinking of how long he would stay.

He strayed away from the pier and headed home-er to Tony's home. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and kept his head down to keep the rain from seeping into his bright blue eyes. He walked fast and wished the week would go by fast. He didn't want to be stuck with all the group that cared so much for the town. They would do anything to keep the town safe, but to keep his secret safe he had to work with them. At least for a week. That is the longest he would stay. He figured that Tony may not have a week of air, but if he came out somehow, evil Tony wanted to be there when he returned, if he did, and defeat him that way.

The rain was beginning to die down and visual of the streets became pretty clear. Evil Tony looked forwards to find the next street he needed. Once he caught sight of it he switched his direction that way and took the final few blocks to get to Roberta's house. At least he still knows where that house is. When he stopped saving people he stopped living with them and bought his own house. He stopped a lot of things that this Tony was still doing.

He knocked on the door just cause of he didn't know everything that this Tony did. But Roberta answered the door and with a flat tone, told him to take of his shirt and shoes before he entered the house. She gave him a towel and even though he was evil he still had to act nice. So he thanked her and put on a fake smile. Though Tony must have left without permission because She didn't seem happy with him.

"Tony you really got to stop leaving like that. Its worrying me." She said with a scold in her tone.

"Sorry just something came up. And if left alone, it would have been bad." Evil Tony explained.

"Okay but next time please ask first." She said and left to go finish up the laundry. He was glad that she didn't push then he would have lost his temper. He didn't really have temper problems, he just didn't like to much pleasantness. It bugged him.

He went to his room and laid down. This week was going to be a long week. He just laid there not really caring that with the slight dampness of his pants, his sheets were also becoming a bit wet. He just thought out the moments of the day. The inventing the universal matter transmitter that brought him to this dimension. Then coming here with a whole bunch of shield agent, and police. They were kinda stupid to guard it. Like they could find out what it was. Most of those people weren't very smart. Just smart with a gun.

So as he lay there his eyes got droppy and he concentrated his mind on the soft rhythm his heart monitor made. His last thoughts were on the plane crash that also took his fathers life.

_The next day..._

Pepper was a bit troubled. She had no idea what happened the night before. She had no idea what so ever. No body called and when she called Tony she just went to voice mail. Rhodey answered but he didn't exactly know what happened either. Only Tony did. But he wouldn't say nothing. But nobody blamed him. From what she heard from her dad was that it was a iron man suit with black and blue and not red and gold. It wasn't iron man but her dad got lucky enough to here him say he was iron crusher.

She as confused as she was she didn't care that she didn't get answers. Though it still troubled her that Tony was not really talking to anyone unless they ask him a question that he was willing to answer. It was the end of school and she didn't care one bit that she was clueless on the situation. She walked to the side of Tony. Rhodey of course was debating with the teacher again. He did that a lot.

"So Tony are we going to the armory? And why are you wearing blue? I mean not that it's a bad thing...but you always wear red." She began to babble about til Tony cut her off.

"No I thought maybe we could hang out here at Rhodey's house.. I just thought I'd try a new color. I got tired of red." He said with out expression. He really did hate her she just got annoying sometimes.

She nodded. They continued to walk on. She always loved going places with Tony. He was always different at what he might say or sometimes do.

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><p>(At the pier)<p>

A group of people were just setting off on a fishing trip and were setting up the boat with all of the things they would need. All things that were necessary and wanted. There was about 4 people heading out on a large speed boat. It took them a few minutes before they were ready and set to go. So one man was driving and two were chatting about the last time they went fishing. The last man was just staring at the water. Out of the four of them he was the quietest.

They were a little ways away from the shore and a little bit over to the left from where they started when the last man saw something. It was in the water. Though it was red and you looked at it right you could see gold with it to. "WAIT STOP!" the man said to the others.

The boat stopped. He pointed and told them to bring the boat to the spot over to the left some more. They brought the boat to the spot and they looked down on it. It took a few minutes of concentrating to realize that it wasn't anything ordinary. It was Iron Man. There hero.

"It's iron man!" One gasped.

"Yeah..."

They stared at iron man for a moment before the smart one devised a plan. Two people would swim down there and pull him up. They didn't know if he was dead or alive, but they had to get him anyways. He saved them so they save him. They devised their plan and the two who were going down to get iron man, took off their sweaters, shoes and shirt. After anchoring the boat down to one spot the two raised themselves on to the edge of the boat and dived. It was spring and it was cold! Especially with the recent rain that was so cold.

The water wasn't so deep, but it was still kinda deep and they had to push themselves to get to the bottom. They got to the bottom and grabbed hold of Iron Man's arms. Iron man didn't respond to the movement. They pulled him up thankful for the lightness of things in water. But once they got to the surface and were gasping for air, they dealt with the full wait of Iron man. They knew it wasn't the real weight of the person, but the weight of the iron. That was heavy. And with the help of the other two they pulled iron man up. Though it weighed the boat down a bit.

With a sigh of relief, They also climbed on and stared down at the discovery they just found. They were amazed that they just pulled up iron man. Now _that_ didn't happen very often. They took on a complete examination of the suit. It was scorched near the chest and in a few other places as well. The shoulder and helmet were slightly cracked, but not deep enough that water would effect anything. The armor was gleaming from the bright sun. After a day of dense rain it was stunning to see the sun.

Though the brightness gave the illusion of life, the lack of movement other than the shallow rise and fall of his chest, didn't exactly show life. Just emptiness. Though their attempts at waking him up failed and they started to wonder just how long he was out for. Or how long he was down there. And why didn't he just swim out? Then again, he could have been knocked out before he got in the water. So as they pondered over what they should do they almost forgot that the driver was friends with a shield agent, and he could call them and they would know what to do. But after a few minutes of tossing around each of their ideas, they finally realized that was what they should do...

Once they dialed his friends number and filled him in on their situation, he agreed that Iron man should be seen and taken care of. So the four just sat their waiting for something to show up to pick up iron man as they had been told. The moments passed and the only sound came from the gentle waves of the ocean waters. And the occasional comment on the outcome of their fishing trip.

The next sound was pretty loud. It was a continuous flickering of thuds that moved quick in the air. It was a small air craft of Shields. It was hovering just nearby and was turning to find the boat that they were sent to find. The pilot pivoted in his seat and adjusted himself to the bright gleam of light from the sea. Then he spotted it. It held four people on it and Iron man. He wasn't moving, he was only laying limply on the floor of the boat. The pilot made a swift movement over the controls and sent the small air craft over the boat.

Through the speaker phone that could be heard from miles away if one so wanted to do, the pilot yelled a warning. "Please for your safety back away from iron man. We are sending down something to pick him up."

The four moved promptly and cautiously to the front of the boat to avoid the large claw thing that was being lowed from the air craft. As the thing came down they watched in astonishment at the sight. Iron Man who hung limply from the claw. Not one move other than the shallow breaths that he had taken, when he was up close to the group. The group glanced one final look at Iron man and set off once again to go fishing.

* * *

><p><strong>In the helicarrier. <strong>

Nick fury was still considering what to do about the whole iron crusher thing. He had just told his shield agents to leave and not to worry cause iron man could handle this. As much as the man hated to admit it, he still thought that iron man was a pretty decent guy. He had a big heart, though it was accompanied by a big head, but still he put other peoples lives before his own and that was enough for Fury.

He was sitting in his chair that watched over the city cameras. And still pondering at trying to contact Iron man about it. Nobody really found out what had happened. With the heavy rains, nobody could really see. Though Shield had it's suspicions. That Tony Stark was Iron man. And it was reported by a shield agent that watched over Tony some times, that he saw Tony heading off to school with his best friends. So if they were right and Tony was Iron man that meant that he won and Iron crusher was defeated.

Which was a relief cause than it could have cause a large panic all around the city and possible the state. And plus if there was two shell heads out there just roaming around doing good or bad, it wasn't the best if every time they saw each other they would get into a large fight. Or That one of them seemed to have some pretty high tech and is using it for evil. But they didn't know what exactly it was that it was after. As always that was never good.

He was just coming up with trying to find iron man when he was interrupted by a group of Shied agents that stormed into the room. It looked like it was urgent. So Fury tried not to be too annoyed.

"Fury sir! We have iron man with us and he's badly injured sir." The leader of the groups squad informed him.

Fury furrowed his eyebrows. "What happened agent?"

"We're not exactly sure, but he was found under water at the pier and a group of fishers found him and called a buddy of theirs that is a shield agent. And immediately they set out to grab Iron man." He continued.

"That's fine. Why wasn't I informed about this sooner?"

"Um..our mistake. Sorry sir." The man tilted his head towards the floor.

"Fine. So where is this shell-head?" Fury inquired.

"In the infirmary sir! We need to get his armor off. Scans say that he is extremely low on oxygen and was pretty beat up."

Fury nodded and gestured for them to lead the way and followed them as they made their way to the infirmary. It wasn't the longest route, but their was still shorter ways to get to other rooms. And the entire Helicarrier was all but silent but the soft rumble of the motors. Part of furry was glad they found the tin man, but was also now even more curious at who the iron man was. Unless this is the Iron crusher, but his men wouldn't mistake iron _man _for iron _crusher_. They were much smarter than that. At least he hoped they were. They were doing a great job so far.

As they rounded the last corner the curiosity grew in Fury. _If he isn't Tony Stark, then who is he really? _Even if he wanted an answer like right that instant he contained the curiosity and kept his posture as they entered the room that was filled with scientists. They were scanning the beat up armor of Iron man like frantic. They were looking for some kind of opening in the mask. Or the armor if they got lucky. Fury took a step closer getting a better look himself and gave it first a quick scan then a more concentrated check over and leaned forward. He was no genius but he knew Iron man was. So if he was smart he would have some kind external open button for the mask in case if oxygen was cut off somehow. That's when he saw it. A concealed little button behind where the ear should be.

Praying that it was the correct button and not some insane self destruction button, he pressed it and stood back as the iron mask pulled back. It revealed the most shocking face. Tony Stark. The one that was supposed to be with his friends. _But how can one person be in two places at once...?_

Then the sound of groaning filled the room. They all looked at Tony with more concentration. Tony opened his eyes a crack. Only to look straight into the eyes of Fury and jumped. "Whoa!"

"Tony what happened?" Fury said.

Tony's eyes widen, the horror evident in his blue eyes. "What?"

"Don't worry we already suspected you were iron man for a long while. Tell me what happened. Your friends could be in danger. Now tell me what happened!"

Tony sighed and struggled to sit up. It wasn't much because of the soreness of his muscles but the pain that was in his chest. He looked down and remembered every detail. The fight, rain, Iron Crusher, _himself. _There was a damaged heart monitor just waiting for him. He muttered something under his breath and surrendered his fight to sit up.

"How are my friends in danger?" He said after exhaling.

Fury sighed realizing he wouldn't get anything out of that thick skull of his unless he knew so he explained his theory. "We got a report that you were going to school with your friends this morning. So we thought that meant you beat iron crusher. But then your here so who's with your friends...?"

Tony's face paled. "No... he's me...well in a different dimension he is, but he didn't feel appreciated enough when he save New York and something snapped and he started using the armor for evil...that can't be good..."

He raised his hands to stretch and flinched when he felt the pain worsen. He quickly took of his armor and raised his shirt to see the extent of the damage. Once he saw it he knew it was a goner soon. In panic he checked his watch. It read:_ unable to access charge point. _He gasped and the other scientists and even some doctors were staring at the heart monitor. **(I dont know how many people and who knows about the heart monitor, but I am gonna keep it like it wasn't mentioned to anybody but Who Tony felt close enough to) **To them it was so new. So different.

"Uh.. Tony we don't know what to do about that?" One of the doctors said.

"That's alright I think I have blue prints to make a new one. It shouldn't be too hard to make. Unless the orb is broke in this one, but no worries back in the armory I have one more, but that one is experimental. But it should work." Tony replied.

Fury thought hard on the matter. But then he spoke. "Ok shell-head, can you walk? We need you to take us to those blue prints. And the core."

Tony sighed and pushed himself up despite the pain in his chest. He was curious at just how long he had. But he let the thought pass as he didn't want to think of that. Not when his friends could be in danger. So he shoved himself of the bed and picked up his armor and nodded. Fury smiled, only because he didn't have to order someone to carry him or get a wheel chair or even crutches. Those sometimes could be a pain. But Then he led the way down the passageways of the Helicarrier. He made sure he had back up close by just in case...

* * *

><p>(At the Rhodes house)<p>

Roberta got back from work and smiled when she heard the teens all hanging out in Tony's room. They normally went to the lab or something. She liked it when Tony actually left the lab and hung out with his friends, it always made her happy to know that he was capable of doing more than just sitting down in front of a computer or something of the sort.

She was just wiping off the last bits of dirt from the floor when she heard a knock on the door. She wondered who would becoming at such a time. It was about 6 o'clock and she wasn't expecting any visitors. She opened the door to come face to face with General Nick Fury. She remembered giving Tony authorization to go aboard the Helicarrier and help with a few thing more than once. But why was Fury at her door?

"Oh hi Fury. You startled me... do you need Tony or what?" She asked while brushing her hands off on her thighs.

"No I already have Tony but we need blue prints from the heart monitor. He needs a new one like right now." Fury said.

She was beyond confused but felt worried that Tony was hurt. So she let him in and was completely confused when she saw Tony walk in and give her a small smile before going ahead of Fury to lead him to his bedroom. But when he opened it he was in for the biggest shock. Though he already knew it.

In the room was himself, Pepper, and Rhodey. They all looked up to see who it was that just barged into the room and gasped. They stared at each other for a while til Tony just ran to his desk, pulled pepper away from the desk and dug in the drawer looking for the specific blue print. Once he grabbed it he tried to run back quick to give it to fury who was standing out in the hallway glaring at the other Tony.

But Tony was stopped by a hand and was spun around to face evil Tony. Who was glaring at him with hatred. _How can he get out of those situations? I wouldn't have been able to!..._ He was jealous of that one thing. His nack for escaping the most impossible of situations.

"well look who's back!" Evil Tony said. "You can't imagine how mad I am to see you right now. I thought you were dead."

Rhodey and Pepper gasped. Tony answered back. "Well just barely. You see people do appreciate me saving the day." That was also another thing that evil tony was jealous of.

"Stark just get away from him! Your injured enough as it is!" Fury yelled.

Evil Tony laughed menacingly. And grabbed the blue prints out of Tony's hand. "Is this the heart monitor? I have one too, but it seems as if yours has a _slight_ crack in it." he crumpled the paper with one hand and tossed it to the far corner of the room.

"So-" He was blocked off by Evil Tony's hand came up and smashed into his throat and was thrown into a wall. He turned into Iron Crusher and grabbed Tony and flew up.

Fury was yelling commands and Pepper was screaming frantically as she dodged the falling debris. Rhodey was running to get his war machine armor and as he ran he was met up with a few Shield agents saying that they need to go with him and they gave him a quick ride to the armory despite the denies of Rhodey.

"How's it feel to lose eh? Not that fun is it now?" Evil Tony taunted.

Tony rolled his eyes and was shocked that his other self didn't notice that he had his backpack on. So he took advantage of that and slapped his hand across it and his armor covered his body. Evil Tony was shocked and let go of tony. Tony flew up and the screen read a whole ton of warnings.

[user damage to heart.] [heart monitor fails in less than a half hour.] [recommend recharge] and [heart monitor needs replacement almost immediately.]

Tony groaned in pain as his heart monitor started glitching and shocking him. But ignored it and fired a repulsor at Iron crusher. [armor percent at 41% and falling rapidly.] Tony was about to fire again when something else fired. Tony spun around and saw Rhodey in the war machine armor and a air craft from the helicarrier. Tony smiled in relief. He called Rhodey and the two air crafts.

"You guys aim your most powerful beam at his heart monitor. It is my greatest weakness-cant believe I just told you that-but it is his as well!" He shouted and charged up his Uni-beam.

"No your heart is to weak man. Just let us handle this one!" Rhodey yelled. "Go to the Helicarrier with Fury and get the new heart monitor made. We got the new ore! GO!"

He sighed and flew to the ground and only got thrown down to the ground from a Uni-beam from Iron crusher. He stayed there for a moment and looked up. Iron crusher was facing the air craft and Rhodey. Who were charging up their big weapons. Rhodey, Uni-beam. Air craft, who knows what. They fired and it hit evil tony in the heart monitor. He yelled and arched his back. His heart monitor cracked and the firing stopped, and Iron crusher began to fade.

"Dang it! You ruined the only thing keeping me solid in this dimension! I Hate you all you hear!" Evil Tony yelled. Then he just disappeared.

Tony relaxed now that he knew that he and his friends were safe and he let the darkness take him. (Not death!)

Pepper ran out of the house after she finally found a way out of the rubble. She came to a horrible sight. Tony was unconscious laying out on the lawn and Fury found his way to Tony first and right in front of Roberta, unlocked the armor. She gasped, but they ignored and watched as fury picked up Tony and brought him straight for the air craft. All the others there boarded it as well; Roberta, Pepper, and Rhodey. They all flew to the helicarrier and they went straight to the infirmary and found that the blueprints was still left home, but actually pepper had grabbed it knowing that it was important and they worked on the heart monitor and it took a few hours and a lot of worrying, but they finally finished it and put it in.

They watched Tony's unconscious form for awhile and prayed that there was no major attack in the city anymore. But little did they know was that Iron crusher was only the beginning. And there was more to come...

**so yeah...it seems a bit rushed in the end, but i wanted to get it out there so yea. Some of you may recognize**** one of the episodes from season 2 but its also a ton different so yea... But Please review and give me your idea! i am planning on using all of them. unless they are already on the show. i want something made up by you. I will make exceptiongs to certain things just so you know, but yes i would love to write your charactor/villain in my story. So far i only got ideas from-**

**Carpetbakr-THANK YOU! Oh and do you mind if i use another one of your ideas in next chapter?**

**DjRocker- Thank you as well! ^.^- In a couple of chapters i will use yours if that is okay...if not please tell me other wise...  
><strong>

**Unikdork-Thnx so much! and can i get a bit more detail it was kind of confusing.**

******I've been thinking up a ton of ideas for more fanfics and was wondering how many people would read it if it made one of Tony's inventions go wrong and turn him into a toddler.**

**How many of you would read that one? And maybe this one- pepper was messing with stuff in the armory and something she does makes her invisible. Please tell me if you are interested in me going forward with those stories.  
><strong>


	3. two at once

**Ok so this story is a slow update, but i am trying. I have my MCA's and a huge project to do for school that is taking up my free time. But i try working on the smaller lengthened stories first so yeah. Sorry. This chapter has Two villains of _Carpetbakr's _so yeah the villains are hers. Well the idea for them. On my profile there is a link to what Ra looks like, but the other one is unknown so i just explained that one. SO yeah if you want to see what Ra looks like just go to my profile and its on the bottom. **

**THANKS Carpetbakr for the villains ideas! **

**I still want More!**

Tony sat up in his bed. His very own bed and was slept in by the real Tony Stark. The evil Tony was now gone and he had nothing else to worry about. Unless this new heart monitor didn't work. Then he'd have to go with the older design. So hopefully this experimental heart monitor worked. That's what everyone wanted. And so far it worked about 4x better than the last one. So he was fine for now.

The little trip to the Helicarrier, was a tough one. The scientist just finished with the new design when Tony's heart failed and they had to restart his heart. But other than that, he was pretty much fine. Even with Roberta knowing about him being iron man, he was fine. But she hasn't exactly said anything. At least not yet. The teens all expected that she was waiting for a better time to talk about it. It certainly wasn't the fact that she knew that worried Tony. It was that she was holding it in. He wanted to hear what she had to say and not have to wait. But he didn't blame her she was mad. He was lying to her for about two years and now she knows why. So if she was mad Tony wouldn't stop her from giving him discipline.

Pepper was playing on his phone that she took from Tony. He wasn't exactly mad, but it annoyed him because he was bored and that's what he did when he was bored. Rhodey was of course doing his homework and even some of Tony's. But other than that the three had nothing to do.

It went on like that for the next day and that's when the armory alarms went off and the same alarm was sent to Tony's phone which was being played by Pepper again. She literally jumped of he chair and she frowned. She looked at what it was and knitted her eyebrows together and handed the phone over to Tony's awaiting hand.

"Hmm. This is new. I never would have thought that we'd hit so many new villains in less than a week." Tony sighed and pocketed the phone and got up. He was stronger than he was with his last heart monitor, but the doctors said he had to lay down for a few days. But if the city was in danger than he had to go there. He had to save the city he protects.

"Tony your still hurt." Rhodey said.

"No I am more than okay. Come on if it makes you feel better than you can come with." Tony replied.

Rhodey sighed knowing he wasn't going to change his mind. "Fine."

Tony armored up and flew off the city and Rhodey went as fast as he could to the armory to get in his own armor. Rhodey hated that Tony wasn't able to make the backpack form of war machine. It wasn't like he couldn't make it, it was just that if he did, it would weigh to much and Rhodey wouldn't be able to carry it. So he just went with letting Tony handle it as much as he could til he got there and then they'd team up on who ever the villain was at the time. By the time he got to the armory Pepper was already there sitting in the control chair. But she couldn't talk to them due to the homework she had to do. So He armored up to meet with Tony.

* * *

><p>(with Tony)<p>

He flew his way threw New York just above the buildings. He was heading to the spot it was called in to say he was at. According to the armor systems, there was a high amount of energy building up. And it was nearby. He turned and saw what it was. It wasn't attacking, only he was looking down at the traffic that seemed to keep building up for they saw the light that was generating off this guy. Tony flew up to him kinda freaked out. This was a villain that was kind of scary. He didn't rant of to the city, he didn't fire everything he had at the city, he just simply stood there with perfect posture.

But that wasn't all. He had a red sort of aura that wrapped around him, he had the head of a falcon, he was bare chested, he had the man skirt like thing...and a belt that held a few weapons, he had a long collar that curved downward at his chest. He had some sort of hat/helmet that was blowing in the wind with the length of it. When you got a good look at him, you saw that he was pretty muscular and looked really menacing and arrogant. He held a gold staff out in front of him resting itself on the roof of the building he was on.

Tony slowed his pace, but still got about a few feet away from him not daring to go any closer to this man. He didn't make a sound. He wasn't trying to go unnoticed, so he didn't freak out when the mans head turned and looked straight at Tony. Tony stood still. Just staring at the man that was now making his way a bit closer to Tony his golden eyes glowing while they were narrowed. They stood there in complete silence. That didn't last long. Rhodey zoomed in and the man turned around. He made a sudden move and hit Tony right in the chest and sent him straight for the streets. It wasn't his hand, but a searing hot flame that forced Tony to the streets and he interrupted all the traffic and people climbed out of there cars to marvel over the events of what was happening.

Rhodey looked down at Tony and glared back at the man that was now approaching him slowly. His red aura glowed brighter as the wind got stronger and the sun rose higher and it got a tad bit hotter. It almost looked like he was smirking or smiling, but with a falcon face it was hard to tell. But he didn't waste anymore time than he already had. He fired his repulsors, but that seemed to bounce right off of him. Or even absorb it? He shook his head and backed away from the man that was getting closer and closer to him. He opened up his big gun turret and his missiles.

"Oh yeah? I have more firepower!" Rhodey called out and fired with everything had. Only for them to just disintegrate right as it touched him.

The falcon man seemed to frown angrily. "No I do! I am Ra the Sun God!"

With that he raised he arms above his head and thrust his arms forward and released the ball of fire that surrounded Rhodey and shoved him violently onto the fallen Tony. The light was so bright that he was temporarily blinded so he had no idea that he landed on his friend that had just started to get up from the blow that he had got. The people watched as Iron Man struggled to get War machine off of him and since iron man was on his back facing away from the crowd, they couldn't tell much of what he was doing. But since the blow iron man couldn't really lift his friend and he dropped his head back to where it was now looking at the forming crowd and he saw them as upside-down figures.

He managed to squeeze his arms out from under his friend and knocked on his helmet and joined in on the con systems. "Hey you okay?"

"Man I feel like I just gazed into the sun for hours. But I'll live. He said he is Ra the sun god."

"Good to know. Oh and he's coming down here."

Rhodey got up and noticed he was on top of Tony and apologized before turning around. Ra had indeed jumped off of the building he was standing on and was firing more flames at the heroes. Knowing they had a crowd, they shouted for them to run and get away and they listened. A few of them were a bit slow and they got the chance to be picked up by iron man and dropped of to where it was safe.

Tony flew away from the three people he saved and into Ra. He noticed that he didn't even go for him when he got up. He went straight for Rhodey. Tony jumped on his back and fired his repulsors into his chest only to have no effect. He just reached and arm back and with that one hand, grabbed Tony by the neck and threw him into a building. He continued his way to Rhodey.

"I'll show you that I have far more fire power than you!" Ra yelled. "Even if you have to stop breathing in the process!"

He fired at Rhodey and he went tumbling back and he raised his arm to fire back, but was thrown back by another round of constant firing. He laid limply not in pain but because that his armor was being literally fried off. Melted off. He made sure that his armor stayed cool and didn't heat. He watched as The red aura around Ra grew brighter and he tilted his staff and it blazed red and grew in intensity with fire.

He fired it, but it didn't hit Rhodey. Instead it hit Tony just below his ribs. Tony went flying back but got up instantly. _He just took that hit for me..._ Rhodey thought and stood up. He just stood and did nothing else. His armor didn't melt off, but it was now a thin layer in a few spots. Tony was thinking hard. He realized that he seemed to be reflecting anything related to heat. _He's heat resistant..._

Tony had to get him wet or something. That should get him... but he just needed to find water...but how do you do that? How do you do that in armor and from being quite a few ways from the ocean? Tony using his big brain to think up of a plan. Then he realized that mud had water in it. That should be enough to at least slow him down to get him to water. So he looked for the closest grassy area and spotted a small spot just about a block away.

In seeing that he flew up while Ra was about to fire Rhodey once more and grabbed him by the leg and pulled with all his might to pull him down and over to the grassy area. He smashed Ra into the ground and Ra yelled in rage and fired at Tony, but Tony gripped his hands on Ra's wrists and held on. He shoved him deeper into the ground and dirt started to show and cover Ra. Who was slowing down his attempts to get out of Tony's grasp.

Tony held him there til he was sure that he wouldn't get up and left Ra up and began to fly, but Ra using up some of the last of his energy shot at Tony and as Tony was shocked at the sudden fire and was thrown away from Ra, who ran off to come back some other day. When he was stronger.

Tony went over to Rhodey and together they flew off to the armory upsetted that he got away, but Tony didn't let this get him down to much due to the fact that he knows Ra's weakness and next time he'll make sure he's weak enough not to fire. Pepper got up from her homework and they all talked about the event together and Tony finished Pepper's homework. He normally did it if iron man got in the way of her homework. And though this time it didn't really get in the way, but it was just simple instinct.

The teens soon went off to eat and Tony stayed behind to fix up Rhodey's busted armor. He was just in the middle of fixing it when the warning sounds began to go off all through the armory. He sighed knowing that he was still fixing up war machine and he had no back up for Rhodey. Of course there was still the lower grade iron man, but Rhodey was the worst pilot in that on ever. It had less stability and that is what made it so hard to fly. War machine's armor was fixed to help that problem and have more protection.

So Tony called Rhodey to say that he was doing it alone and he was replied with a 'I'll be there once I finish my food.' So Tony flew off with his armor on and hoped it was just Aim or something small. He had enough of this brand new villains that seemed to come out of no where. So still hopeful for something small or easy he made himself go faster.

It was just the opposite of small. Or old. It was a new villain. Again. This one looked a bit different. It had blue skin, ice-colored eyes, with long tangled white hair with the same colored beard. He had gray horns on his head and his hair and beard was matted with green seaweed and river debris. The blue armor on him looked sturdy and strong along with seaweed-camouflage, dark green streaked with light-green and speckled brown jeans. He carries a sea blue trident that shimmers like the sea waves. If he didn't have that scowl on his face and he wasn't using some kind of water ability to attack and possibly drown the citizens of New York, Tony would have thought the man looked cool.

He flew down near the man and turned to him. "who are you? And why are you attacking New York?"

"I a Hatuaoh Makiki!**(Haa-too-oh Mah-kee-kee)**Water demon! Your wretched city is polluting my home!" the man, Hatuaoh Makiki yelled.

"Yeah well it's not there fault!" Tony yelled back.

"Yes it is they are the ones driving those cars making oil getting in my home and almost every one of them has thrown a piece of plastic or paper, or smoke into my river! The Hudson river is not a garbage!"

The Makiki aimed his water at Tony and Tony went tumbling. He was still glad that his armor was waterproof. He heard all the coughs and splutters from the people who got caught in the wave of water before when he was uncovered from the water. He got up and fired at the old man. He frowned when he found out that this man too was pretty much resistant to that. So what is this guys weakness. His first resort was to bash into him and send him to the ground, but when he did smash into him, he just bounced off. Not like rubber, but more like hitting a brick wall. _How in the world...?_

Tony shook his head in frustration that the villains he kept fighting have no weakness that he found or a really hard one to get to. Or one that takes forever to find out. He fired more at him with little effect. The villain slashed his trident at him with force and it slashed at his side just grazing Tony's waist. Tony winced but grabbed the trident just as it was being pulled back away. He tugged at it, but it just made him fall on his back when the trident hadn't budged.

Hatuaoh now began to fly on a geyser like thing and continued to attack and weaken Tony. Hatuaoh continued to attack the innocent and Tony did everything in his power to carry them away and tell them not to come back til Hatuaoh was gone. Tony kept attacking even though he knew it was pointless. He kept distracting him as long as he could.

* * *

><p>(With Rhodey and Pepper.)<p>

They just finished there food. They were heading to the armory, but on the way there they were stopped by a group of people that ran up to the two teens who were just heading through town.

"Don't go that way. Turn around! Man gone mad! Iron man...said not to come back til he was gone. It was pretty serious. He was attacking random citizens! _Crazy...!_" A man panted and ran off.

Rhodey would have called Tony, but his phone was broken and Tony hadn't fixed it yet. Pepper's phone was taken away due to phone bill. So they just had to wait to get to the armory. But the fastest route was the way 'iron man' said not to go. They would have ignored the mans warnings and pressed on, but the realization that the villain was attacking the innocent. At random? And him being wet and bruised proved it. They had no idea why he's wet, but they just had to go along with it. For the time being they would go another way.

They were just about to do that when they heard shouting, but they couldn't understand what it was saying, but it was definitely saying words. But as they focused more they heard more shouting and a loud crash. Which when they focused really hard they noticed it was Tony that was skidding in their direction. An old man with real white hair was approaching Tony with a large amount of water behind him. He was floating on some kind of water geyser. That looked like it was being controlled by his feet.

They looked at Tony who was now standing up slowly. _He looks like he hurt..._ they watched as Tony fired his repulsors and nothing happened but a small twitch. Tony rammed him but bounced off. They watched as Tony froze and reached out and grabbed the mans leg and pulled. But nothing happened. It was like something was keeping him held in place, making it impossible for Tony to make this man budge...

Tony yelled in frustration. This man wouldn't stop. Every person he saw he attacked and didn't stop. There had already been some injury's. And to Tony, that was way to far. But as he was turning around to go a farther distance then attack, he froze on the spot. There stood his two best friends. Rhodey and Pepper. He gasped and yelled at them to go away. He didn't mean it in a harsh way, but in a protective way.

They of course didn't listen they just stood there and pointed at Hatuaoh. Who was attacking an young lady. She had flipped and flopped in the water and rose as the water did. Tony panicked and ran into Hatuaoh again with no effect. Nothing. He looked at the woman again and saw that her struggles to get free were get fainter. Her eyes were wide despite the water in her eyes. Tony in impulse flew in the water near her and grabbed the closest limb to him. Her leg. He pulled and to lessen the stretch he went up closer to her and wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled. The two fell out of the water and Tony and the woman went falling to the ground. Tony turned on his jet boots and flew upwards looking for a quick spot to put her.

He was holding her like an infant. Not in a romantic way. Not at all. Even if he was, she was to old for him...but still he was just trying to get her to safety and he didn't like her in that way at all. He didn't want anything more than to end this fight, save the innocent, and go home to fix up his wound. It wasn't deep, but it still hurt and it did bleed a bit.

The woman who had blanked out in the water, came to and blinked. She coughed up water and looked around confused. She hadn't seen what had saved her. She knew it was iron man, but she also didn't know. She knew it was him, but she just didn't want to believe it. At all.

"Iron man?" She asked and noticed he was flying away from the scene.

"Hmm." His mechanical voice said. She knew it was a human under the armor.

"Why are you carrying me?"

"What? Um...uh...just to get you to safety ma'am." Wow she got him good!

Tony set her down and told her to be careful and left back to fight the man, but was horrified to find that man had dropped down to the ground and had left his water to soak into the cement and rain drains. But that wasn't what horrified him. It was the fact that he was standing a few feet away from his friends and had his trident raised and aimed at them...

With a grunt the man threw it and Tony watched as if in slow motion, but being Tony he wouldn't let any of them dye because he wasn't able to defeat someone. He flew as fast as he could and stood right in the line of fire and readied himself for the hit.

Rhodey and Pepper watched as the man threw it and Tony who was watching knowing his couldn't stop it. Cause even if he hit it with something it wouldn't do nothing. They then gasped in horror and shock when Tony flew right in front of the trident and was directly in front of the trident that was once the threat of either Rhodey or Pepper. But now it was Tony...

It hit with a sickening sound. They couldn't exactly see where it hit, because the trident instantly after it sunk into Tony's armor it flung back to the old man who watched in triumph. Tony fell on his stomach completely unconscious. A pool of blood formed and flooded under Tony's body. The teens would go to him if they had not known better than to do that with a villain watching. Plus they had to find out why he was attacking.

_Well one litterer down. Just a ton more to go..._ Hatuaoh thought. He turned to go.

"Wait!" the voice of the male teen yelled.

He turned around. "What is it."

He would have finished them off, but they looked truly mortified when that iron dude he just fought with died. He would show them mercy. Just for now. Unless this kid decides to say something incredibly stupid.

"why are you attacking New York?" The kid asked.

"My home. Its polluted and it was all you and everybody else fault. Now your people shall die and pay the price!"

"wheres your home?"

Wow this kids got nerve. "Hudson River. If you have to know. Now I shall be on my way. Or I will forget that I was letting you go."

He turned to go again. "Please. We can help you! We know what can un-pollute your home!"

He spun around. "How?"

"He's a genius he has many inventions that help people. And he made something that will un-pollute water. It will keep the river clean!"

"How can one man clean my home?" Hatuaoh asked with a snap.

Rhodey wasn't' lying. He was being completely honest with this guy. He wasn't just trying to save New York. He saw that this man did have a good reason to attack New York. Though it was wrong to use violence, he still understood.

"Like I said. He's a genius. He made that armor after all. He made tons of other things and he made that thing that will clean your home. I know because he's my best friend" Rhodey urged.

The man nodded. He paused now regretting that he was about to kill the people that could have helped him and the man that would have been the biggest help was now dead. Though he did see where it hit him and maybe just maybe he was still alive...

He crouched down and flipped the man in the armor over.

Pepper gasped. She was the only one watching the man. Rhodey was looking off to see if there was any damage to the town. Not much. Just soaking wet like it rained. But in spots that rain wouldn't get to.

Tony was hit with the trident in the far upper part of his right shoulder. So there was one hole in his armor right where his shoulder connects to the body. And the other hole was down lower in his arm and Pepper also realized that There was three rows of scratches on his side. Blood was seeping out of the armor. There was only two holes because the edge was missed but still it went in pretty deep.

"Oh I am terribly sorry about that. You had a good friend. But there may be a chance that he's still alive. Just take off his armor." Instantly Rhodey pressed the chest part that took the armor off if touched just right. It went off and Rhodey frowned. Tony was completely pale. Though Pepper smiled in relief when she saw that his chest moved up and down. Softly. But there was still movement.

The man used some water and ran it over Tony's wounds. He knew he had healing abilities. But normally it was just on himself. He never really used it on anyone else. So he had no idea if it would work. Hopefully it would. It would save both of them. His life and Hatuaoh's home.

He concentrated on his healing and the water sorta glowed. But it wasn't as strong as it would be on himself. So he still had a small cut on he side and the holes were smaller and the kids breathing went up. And he coughed and winced, holding his side. He opened his eyes and glared at Hatuaoh. He looked around frantically to see if his own friends were okay. When he noticed they were alive and smiling at him. He smiled back.

"So whats going on?"

"You get to use the water unpulluter again!" Pepper squealed and hugged him a bit to hard.

He groaned and pushed her away lightly. A frown was now on Pepper's face. He pointed to his shoulder in explanation. She nodded. "Cool! It works really well. I can't believe I didn't think of that before."

Hatuaoh sighed and help the teen up. "Please I would like to get back to my home as soon as possible."

The three nodded and showed him the way to the armory. The three also were relived that the man wasn't so mean and did turn good and saved Tony. But Tony was still worried about that Ra guy. He didn't seem like the forgiving type. And he just knew that he would be back...But for now they had a river to un-pollute.

**Suckish ending i know but i am sorry! Please give me more villain ideas! i want as much as i can get. so yeah. Reveiw!**


	4. two at once part 2

**Okay so here is the ending to the last chapter. It ends with the beginning of the next chapter. And yes it is another one of Carpetbakr's villains. She so far other than two others is the only one giving me ideas. though i only got one from the others, and don't worry i will get to those ones. Even though you might not even be reading this. But anyways, I am back to updating. I'm fine. And i have more time. But i really need to know people are reading this and giving me ideas for villains. I won't cancel it, but with out those ideas, the story cannot continue. This story is running on your villains. Though maybe a one point i'll throw in my own, but i want to get yours in first. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE give me more ideas! I need them! Well this chapter may not be interesting, but i'm trying here!**

Tony scanned the armory storage room. It had seemed that it needed to be organized quite a bit. A lot actually. He picked up and looked at the inventions he made. One day he was going to have to sort out everything so he found what he was looking for faster. A ton faster. But it didn't take as long as they all thought to find it. It was on top of a box labeled 'do not open: Radioactivity exposure.' Pepper had eyed that box as if worried that it would somehow break open and cause damage to everything and everyone. But when Tony reached up to grab it nothing happened. It was a sturdy box.

Tony grabbed it and blew it off with the dust on it, he would have to test it to make sure it wouldn't break. Or it wasn't broken already. Dust could have that effect of things that are left out unused and uncleaned or dusted for awhile. It seemed to happen a lot. Though, the armor no matter how long it was left out in the dust it wouldn't be broken.

He went over to his lab area with the other three following him as always. Well now he had that Hatuaoh guy following him as well. Tony tested it and fixed it up to work with a MUCH bigger area. It now would or should un-pollute the Hudson river. At least enough to be livable. He twisted around and winced as he both stretched and tugged at his still open wounds that he was still bleeding out of a bit. He would have to give it a first aid soon. But he had to wait til Hatuaoh was taken care of. And that he was satisfied with the result of the un-pollution.

He blinked away the tears that shown in his eyes before smiling and completely facing his friends.

They returned his smile. Even Hatuaoh did. It was a bit strange still, but the man must be pretty happy to have his home cleaned out. Of course he was. It was his home and not many people like their homes dirty and gross. It was never good to be polluted. But his home was and Tony wanted to make sure that it was left clean and not polluted. And to be positive that Hatuaoh wasn't going to attack again.

"Good news! It works, but there is no telling if it would work _completely._ It may leave a bit, but I'm almost positive that more than 95% of the river should be clean." Tony reported.

"Almost?" Hatuaoh asked.

Tony pursed his lips and nodded. "Yes... The river is so big and is always moving there for making it nearly impossible to clean it completely, but just come here if you want it to be cleaned again. I may be busy, but if you just wait around here or just come back later then I'll help you."

Hatuaoh nodded. "Thanks for your help. It was much appreciated. And I apologize for your injuries. I really meant no harm. Just I was filled with revenge."

Tony bit his lip. "Yeah... I know what you mean. Thank you."

With another small nod the teens and Hatuaoh rounded the corner and walked down the street and made their way all the way to the Hudson river. Tony's side ached. With every step he took it seemed to open up his wounds even more. He looked down hoping none of his friends would notice that he was in pain and noticed that now it was bleeding through his fresh shirt now. It was just a dark red spot in the side and the shoulder of his already red shirt. He sighed and eyed his friends who nervously eyed Hatuaoh who was walking with pride in his stride.

Tony raised his arms to wrap his fingers around his armor backpack, but once again sighed when he remembered that his backpack armor was damaged and in the middle of repair and even so, his shoulder was to damaged to carry that heavy backpack. He lowered his hands and took a deep painful breath. He was just glad that no important organ or whatever was hit. At least not to his knowledge. He'd have to scan him self at the armory infirmary. He shifted a bit to the side so his shoulder at least wasn't in the sight of his two friends. That one was the worst. He didn't want them to worry to much. They haven't yet noticed that it was still bleeding. It wasn't when they were looking for the water purifier.

Once they arrived Tony took a vile and dipped it in the water and stuck it into the side of his invention. He pressed some buttons and waited for the beep. He looked at the words and numbers on the screen and then pressed the vile all the way in and a small door moved around it and he pressed a few more buttons. Then just sighed.

"What is it? Is some thing wrong?" Pepper asked.

He shook his head. "No no. just that the water is really cold and I have to go in it."

Hatuaoh stepped forwards. "I can do it for you. The temp does not bother me."

Again Tony shook his head. "Can't. Needs my approval. Well, I mean like a finger print because if somebody else got a hold of it they can put too much in and I don't want to do that cause all that will do will pollute the river even more."

"What happens if somebody else does it? And why do you have to be in the water to do that?" Pepper asked.

"If somebody else does it, nothing. It will just say request not accepted. I have to be under the water because right after it confirms the amount to clean and all the settings it will start cleaning and in the air, it will over heat. It isn't set to clean hot water."

"Tony what about your heart implant? Wouldn't it get wet?" Rhodey finally spoke.

"Yes it would. That is why I brought this." He said while pulling out of his pocket yet another odd invention. It was pretty much a sticky tin foil that was red. A _really _sticky foil.

"What is that?" Pepper and Rhodey asked.

"Keeps all water from getting to the heart implant until I figure out how to make it water proof." Tony said.

The other two teens nod in understanding. While Tony turned away and removed his shirt. It was either going to be awfully close to being caught, or his would get caught and scolded for keeping it to himself. But it wasn't really that bad. Just hurt a lot and bleeding bit more than a regular cut. But it was a lot better than dead. He wrapped around the foil around his implant and looked down. It was actually much more wider than his heart implant actually was. It covered about half his side injury and the tip of the shoulder wound. It was definitely going to hurt going into the cold water with the wounds, but it wasn't cold enough to give him hypothermia or anything.

Without facing the others, he took off his shirt and he gripped the water purifier and walked into the water. He sucked in a sharp breath as the icy waters sloshed around his bare feet. But he didn't stop he had to be deep down under the water to actually get it in enough to clean the desired area correctly. Luckily he made the invention heavy enough to hold him steady to the ground and as he got to the deep part, glad that the currents were calm so they didn't pull him off course, he sunk down out of sight of the others.

He bit down hard on his lip to keep from breathing in the icy cold water. It was a bit colder than he thought. But in lack of time he started to press buttons on the machine and waited. He shifted his foot off of a huge sharp rock, but just to the side making it collapse it and land on his foot. Though he ignored it and continued to press buttons and stuck his index finger into the slot where it checked for the right DNA for approval. Instantly it began to clean sucking in water and filtering it. It put a special chemical in the water that was completely harmless to Hatuaoh and that would breakdown garbage. That chemical once it was done would then be cleaned out.

Tony who was running out of breath, smiled as the invention worked. He set it down for it needed about a hour to fully clean. He set it down and went to swim to the surface of the river, but was stopped by the large rock that had fell on his leg. It was holding him down. He was now low on breath. He bent down to pulled it off, but it hardly budged. It didn't seem as heavy on his leg before. He kept pushing against it and it lifted and he pulled his legs out. Though it scraped his foot. He kicked up and when he broke through the surface he gasped in air. It reminded him of the one time he was in space...

"Tony? Are you okay?" Pepper asked noticing now that he was bleeding, but not even close to as much as he was earlier. She eyed his shirt and her eyes widened in wonder to why she hadn't noticed it before. It was covered with small bits of blood, but luckily not too much.

He looked down. He saw that just above the water line was his wound. She was staring at it as well as Rhodey. "I'm fine."

"Tony why didn't you say something?" Rhodey said a bit upset by the fact that he wasn't told.

"Because I was fine. I _am _fine. I promise I'll give it medical attention when we're done. In an hour."

"in_ an Hour?" _Pepper said astonished.

"Yes. When the river will be unpolluted. It isn't all that bad. My injury I mean."

Pepper and Rhodey sighed in knowledge that Tony was to stubborn to give in to their worries.

Even though he said he was fine, he wasn't. He was freezing. And the cold wasn't like an ice pack for him, it was more like a burning flame being put on a open wound. Not a pleasant feeling. But he would just have to man up or whatever they say and deal with it. Though for his friends sake, he pressed his shirt onto his wounds and held it with pressure ignoring the sting that followed. They seemed to relax. They were still worried that he lost to much blood, but honestly he didn't feel very nauseated. Just pained. So that was a good sign. He wasn't lightheaded. He wasn't dizzy. Well actually maybe a tad bit dizzy, but nothing major.

For the next hour they just chatted and sat. Pepper at times would bring up that Tony looked a bit pale, but Tony ignored her worry. He felt fine. Though he had the shivers and chills and was shaking like mad when the wind picked up. But finally at last the hour ended and Tony went back down. It was a bit colder now that it was getting late and that the sun was going down, but only dropped by a few degrees. Shouldn't be to cold.

This time he had to swim down to the bottom and the current was a little more stronger but he found and got to the water purifier. This time it was a much shorter trip and he was up with the machine in no time. He smiled as he broke through the surface. His teeth chattering. Rhodey helped pull him out careful not to hit his injuries. Tony slid into his shirt and noticed his wound had stopped bleeding for the moment so he was careful with his movements. Careful not to make them worse.

With a thanks and a nod, Hatuaoh jumped into the water as if it was the nicest temp on earth. Into his home. His clean home. With that, the teens left with a chattering Tony, a worried Pepper, and a slightly annoyed, Rhodey.

Instantly when they got back to the armory Rhodey sat Tony down on a chair and went to get first aid. Though Tony got up and went to the back room of the armory. The teens not exactly knowing what was in that room for it was always locked, followed with curiosity. It turned out to be a mini scanner room that would scan bones, organs, and even test blood. Though all the equipment was invented by Tony so non of this tech was in hospitals. Though Tony was debating about giving them to the hospitals cause he knew they worked a lot more than the older ones.

Tony just stood in a medical scanner that just identified what was wrong and what kind of medical attention would be needed. Normally he wouldn't actually go to this room because it wasn't really meant to be used by him, because to be honest, it was made for the hospital and he was just wondering if it was right to do that. So he didn't use them for the sake that they had to be unused or hardly used if the hospital would take them.

The scanner said that it was just blood loss and they needed stitches. Lots more than Tony thought. His side wounds didn't look all that bad. But when you actually look at them they are still long and just deep enough to need stitches and they were still so long that they needed a bunch. His shoulder didn't need as much attention as he thought. It only needed to be cleaned and wrapped up in gauze.

So he went to the hospital and asked if he could get those wounds taken care of and they said the same exact thing as his scanner. Stitches and gauze. Tony wouldn't say what happened, but they didn't push on the answer.

He was let go some where around midnight. He wasn't in the hospital long, but still. He and Rhodey left to go home. Pepper had to go awhile ago and left Tony and Rhodey alone.

"Where were you two?" Roberta asked when they had gotten home.

"Iron man things and hospital." They replied together.

She sighed. "Next time tell me. What happened?"

The two told their story and she only nodded and let them go. Tiredly they went to bed in their beds. Both entered a dreamless sleep.

* * *

><p>(Next day)<p>

In the morning the two were eating breakfast and talking. Roberta left to go to work and there was no school until the next day. Luckily.

"Tony so right now both of your Iron Man armors are down. I know I really shouldn't be encouraging you to go and work in the armory, but shouldn't you be working on the armor? What if New York was attacked? You can't really fight in your stealth armor. So if you had to fight you would have to use the hulk buster armor." Rhodey said once they had finished their meal.

Tony nodded. "Yes that's why I will be working on quick repairs today." Tony said while throwing his shoes on.

Rhodey doing the same sighed. "I know its for the better so today I won't pester you about getting out and doing something other than sit around doing stuff in the armory."

Tony opened the door and Rhodey stepped out after him and shut the door behind himself. Today to save time they took a taxi. It took them all of a block away from the armory and the two ran the rest of the way to the armory. Opening the door, Tony jogged his way across the room and began his repairs while Rhodey sat at the control chair and played Tony's video games.

It was not even noon yet and the alarms in the armory went off. Tony, who wasn't done yet fixing either of his armors that had broken, spun around to the computers.

"Computer, whats the status?" Tony asked.

[Energy levels above average and rising. Enemy source, Ra]

Tony sighed. Though he was relieve that it wasn't a new villain again. Now he was starting to miss whiplash, Aim, and—actually he didn't miss Gene at all. Not one bit. But yes he did miss fighting the Maggia even. But at least Ra had a obvious weakness.

Tony stood up only to be pushed back down by Rhodey. "Whoa man! Settle. I'll handle this."

Tony shook his head stubbornly. "I have a plan."

Rhodey now sighed. "Tell me it. You're hurt. I'm not letting you get hurt anymore than you already are."

"Rhodey I can use the space armor. I mean it does everything the mark II does. Well no it doesn't but its strong enough for my plan and small enough."

"I'm not worried about your lack of armor. Anyways you still haven't finished mine! So I'm stuck with the hulk buster. What I am worried about is your health! I don't care that you have armor on, you'll still be probably smashed around! You could pull a stitch. It would be bad to do that! So just let me handle this one!" Rhodey shouted.

Tony was now staring at Rhodey wide eyed. Rhodey only yelled when he was literally ticked. He swallowed. "I don't want you to be alone."

"Then get Pepper to help! You did tell her you were gonna give her one. It might as well be now."

"Yes I know I promised!-Oh my gosh! Just go I'll use remote control! GO!" Tony shouted the last word wanting to get out and save New York, but the two got distracted in their own little disagreement. So he just had to end it.

"Good. You better actually stay here and remotely control it and not be in it!" Rhodey warned and armored up. "Man this is gonna be tough! Learning all about the hulk buster."

With that he flew off. Tony instantly sat in the control chair and started up the space armor. The seat he sat in spun around as he flew the armor to follow Rhodey and together they joined the con systems.

"See? I can listen." Tony said automatically.

"Sometimes..." Rhodey replied. "So. Whats the plan?"

" You know when I shoved him into the ground and he got weaker?"

Rhodey nodded. "Yeah...?"

"Well that's his weakness-"

"Earth!" Rhodey interrupted.

"Well yes and no. I'm almost positive its the moisture in the soil that is getting to him. So if we used dry soil it wouldn't work. So I threw into a ground that was washed by the city."

The two stopped when they saw Ra. He was now standing in the middle of a group of Police and a squat team. Ra's arm raised and glowing...

"Ra!" Rhodey yelled. Ra turned to face who was yelling at him.

_Just who I was looking for..! _Ra thought. _Well close enough..._

"What is it you want!"

"I had meant no harm in the first place. You attacked me first. Actually I was just looking for a friend." Ra said innocently.

The police looked from Ra to 'Iron man' little did they know it was actually War machine. Any armored man with Red and/or Gold made it Iron man. Or was built small.

"No I was being prepared when you hit my friend to the ground. I never attacked. T-Iron Man," Rhodey said quickly to fill in his mistake. "Iron man got mislead. He thought you were an enemy."

"Well he thought wrong! But wait! Who are you if your not Iron Man?" Ra inquired.

Now the police looked expectantly up at Rhodey. "I am War Machine. Iron man hasn't got time to repair all of his armor and save New York all at once."

"So my guess would be that there is the real iron man?" Ra said his falcon like eyes glowing as his aura glowed brighter. "The one who could've killed himself trying to save you meaning, you are somebody really close to him and not just somebody he works with."

Rhodey and even Tony in his chair stiffened. Knowing it was a fact that Tony would indeed give up his own life to protect Rhodey's.

Rhodey didn't like this version of Ra. The kind to talk about things before he goes in for a jump attack. He was dangerous. Last time it was as if he was fighting out of rage. He wasn't being as rational as he was now. His head was more likely more clear than before.

Finally Rhodey spoke up. "Yes. Your are right. Iron man would do that. But why did _you _attack him?"

"He approached me. He would have attacked. Just defense." Ra said simply.

"Still. Why were you even in New York?"

There was a slight pause, but it wasn't one of those stomach wrenching waits. The ones that always leave you pretty much breathless.

"Business." Ra said with a wave of his glowing red hand.

Though that was last thing that was said at least that wasn't a shout or yell. Ra fired Iron man sending the armor flying. Instantly Ra was open fired at by the squat and some very dumb, but brave police. Ra just ignored them and fire at Tony with his staff. All the while sending flames at Rhodey who threw up his shield just in time for the flames to hit. Tony put his shields up as well. It would waste energy, but there was two reasons he didn't want to just take the hit.

It would give it away that Iron man wasn't there and everybody will think it was a robot or what ever, though that would be great, but then the people wouldn't be as grateful to the team thinking they actually weren't human.

It could cause damage to buildings.

But even though he wasn't in the armor didn't mean that it couldn't breakdown or something like that. Just meant he wasn't actually getting hurt.

Ra shifted from his spot specifically firing his heated power at Tony's armor. He knew if Iron man wasn't there, then War Machine would be in the wide open unprotected... So he continued to fire til Iron man's shield buzzed out and dropped. Rendering him useless if he didn't act fast. Or fast enough.

Surely he did move fast once he realized just how hot the fire would be and he would just have to keep moving till he found a safe place to hit a fire hydrant. No it wasn't one of his best plans, but they sure spat water out when the entire hydrant is removed. So he looked around to see that just around the corner was a fire hydrant. Red and gleaming in the sun.

if this didn't work, then Tony made his mind up to go to extremes. Asking Hatuaoh for help. It wasn't that bad, but didn't want to have to do that. It was to much to ask. So he veered around to the fire hydrant and rammed it. He had to back up and do it again, but it did finally burst. Sending water flying. Luckily close enough to hit a bunch onto Ra and Tony pressed his palms above the water to make it go in a certain direction and it flew directly in the face of Ra. Who threw his arms up and backed away. Rhodey from behind realized that this was the plan and fired and shove Ra closer to the water. Making Ra get the full pressure of the water coming at him.

Ra bent down to his knees hands and arms flung over his face. His aura was turning more of a sickly blue and not that blazing red. It was very dull, but noticeable. Then he just tossed himself forwards and onto his stomach while Tony kept the water on him. Though the water didn't last long. Those things did have to stop at one point. But it lasted long enough. Tony still thankful for his armor being waterproof though he really only needed if he was fully submerged in water. Otherwise his heart implant could handle the water. Such as rain or showers.

Rhodey flew down next to Ra and got a closer look to him. His falcon face was soaked and his eyes blinking faster than Rhodey thought possible. He was shaking a bit. Tony directed his armor to Ra making his control chair spin. He lift Ra who just allowed him to. The Police now closed in closer after they had backed away from all the flames. Though as they backed away they were enclosed in a blue bubble like shield that Iron Man had have them just as flames emitted off of Rhodey and Tony's shield. Once Ra was soaked the shields were dropped. Leave a few Police officers dazed. But they recovered and was about to call for extra back up, but Iron man raised his hand and said,

"Sir I am requesting that I take Ra to Shield Agents. To be held in there custody."

The Police with the phone lowered his hand and ceased his dialing. He nodded at the odd request. Because that was where he would go anyways.

Iron Man flew off holding the weakened Ra and War Machine in the hulk buster armor flew off after them in pursuit. It didn't take long, but it took long enough to when they got home they missed their lunch and came home to a _VERY _upset Pepper. Who was standing in the doorway to the armory and the two boys exited the lab to get some food before they went back to finish fixing all of the armors.

"Why didn't you guys call!" She practically screamed.

"Because you said you were busy with your dad yesterday!" Tony replied, but not nearly as loud as she was.

"Yeah. But that did _not _mean that I wouldn't take your call!"

"You said specifically not to call you because you wanted to show your dad that you didn't only hang out with you friends instead of him." Rhodey stated.

She glared at him. "You know what I meant! I meant don't call unless it was and iron man thing!"

the boys sighed and continued walking while Pepper continued to rant. It took the entire lunch meal and about one hour of repairs and video games, for her to calm down and just return to watching over Tony's shoulder. He finished off the war machine armor in concern over Rhodey and Just finished off his least damaged Mark II armor out of the two, when the alarms sounded. It was not the alarms for danger in the city. It wasn't the alarms for known villain tech was spotted or when there was a crime going on the the police were having trouble at getting.

It was different. The one they never thought they'd hear. At least not then. Not now.

It was the alarms that someone was _in _the armory with unauthorized entry.

It couldn't have been a mistake all three of them were there together and the armory was meant to allow Roberta in if she needed and—even it was against everything Tony went for—Nick Fury as well. And Agent Hill and now, black widow. It was the only way to let Tony still be Iron man. If major Shield agents were allowed to enter at will.

Though when Tony looked around a _woman _stepped out from the shadows.

"So Iron man is the brilliant Tony Stark that I've been hearing about?"

**So THANK YOU Carpetbakr for the villains and until i get new ideas, it will keep being hers til i get to the end of her list of villains. And of course to the other two. But you guys seriously please! I want more ideas. More of a variety! i don't care if you have an account or not just review or even PM me! I mean it i don't bite! Well i hope to see more people reading this! Though if its just not working out...then no i won't cancel it. Actually i am having to much fun writing/typing this! i dont know why nobody else is. or not many are. But review?**


	5. Shadows

**Heres the next chapter. Again its one of Carpetbakr's villains. After this villain it will be Finny-Kun Goddess' and i really hope you guys will warm up to this fan fic. But honestly at this point i dont care about how many people read it. I just care that i can write something at least a few people like. SO yeah! But i hope this chapter is good. **

**I have to say this to Carpetbakr- I hope that it's good and it fits Aria enough. She was kind of confusing, but i tried. I kinda added a part that you might not have thought would be on here, but i hope that you like it.  
><strong>

**So enjoy.  
><strong>

"So Iron man is the brilliant Tony Stark that I've been hearing about?"

Rhodey almost fell out of his seat in shock. Tony jumped back hitting Pepper who was so shocked she didn't even budge. Though she kept Tony from falling more back. They stared wide eyed at her. She stepped fully into the light with a slight smirk plastered on her face.

"Well I would say 'surprise' but you gotta admit that this was bound to happen." She sneered.

As they looked at her still in complete shock, they saw that she had long jet black hair streaked with green, purple, and gray. It ran down her back to the middle of it. She wore a skin tight suit that was black with a black belt that carried weapons such as swords, Pepper spray, guns, and other nasty weapons. Her gloves had the fingers cut off that were studded. Her nails painted a glossy black. Her pants were baggy and had the same appearance of jeans. She had large combat boots that if you looked close enough you could see tranquilizer guns strapped to her legs just above her boots. She also wore a jacket that seemed to have tons of pockets that could carry anything.

Tony was the first to break through the silence. "What do you want?"

"I saw you helping the insolent humans." She said with venom but as if she was stating a mere fact.

"SO big deal. Why- wait humans? Your not human?" Tony said his voice dripping with clear confusion.

She sighed. "Well technically I am, but I don't like to consider myself one."

The three finally fully recovered and Rhodey was now standing up and had walked over by Tony and Pepper and those two turned to face the strange girl.

"Who are you?" Tony asked.

"You would like to know wouldn't you? I guess I have nothing better to do. I'm known as Shadow Fiend."

She walked closer her hand hovering over one of her pockets. He face was clear of any sign that she was smirking or smiling. Her face now was full on serious. It had sort of a dark shadow like look to it. When she unzipped one of the zipper buttons Tony rushed to get his back pack on. The one that he just finished fixing up. He triggered the armor to cover himself and stood in front of his friends. By this time, she already had whatever it was that she wanted out of her pocket. Though it was a silver cylinder with a sword hilt and a carved dragon winding around the hand grip.

Tony eyed it worriedly wondering what it was meant to do. Though he held his stance in front of his friends. He wouldn't back down from this fight. Rhodey would have ran for his armor if it hadn't been in some other room.

The smirk that had once been cleared off of her face was now back. It returned as some kind of movement in the shadows hovered to the hilt. When the teens looked at the shadows it seemed as if they were moving. Shadows should definitely not move like that. They were moving in clumps to the hilt and when they finally stopped they looked like barbed wired whips. So whips that were made of barbed wire and there was three strands of them. She walked closer to them with a sharp laugh. As she got a bit closer they realized that her eyes were pitch black. No white iris'. None. She raised her arm that held the whip and was looking directly at Tony. He raised his own arm to fire a repulsor, but she had already shot her arm down making the whip come down and wrap itself around his waist and she tugged him. He was pulled directly in her face and he was struggling to get out of the barbed whips.

It was hard considering that he was trying his best not to pull the stitches he got. But as he struggled he gave up and sat there behind the armor glaring into her eyes. Though she wasn't speaking, he could hear her. Her voice that is. She was gazing into his eyes as if she could really see them. She was no longer smiling. Though just before she let him go her face broke out in a happy smile. As she let go Tony swore he felt as if something was being pulled out of him. Not like he was dying or as if a bone or something physical was being pulled, but more like his air. All the air that was inside of him. And he fell back limp. Unable to do anything. He seemed as if he was in a dark abyss, or a pitch black ocean. He couldn't hear anything, but he was still conscious that he wasn't dead. Or unconcious. It was as if he was paralyzed.

Pepper and Rhodey watched as Tony _once again _fell down limp. Though there was no blood. And they turned their gazes to the woman known as shadow fiend, who was now looking at them.

"I would love to do the same to you guys but I have other business to take care of. Other people to visit. Anyways, I'm going to be back. At one point." With that said the shadows returned to how they were and her whip's hilt was put back in the zipped pocket.

Then she was gone. She had went out the door.

Now the two teens ran to the limp body of their genius friend. They took off his armor and gasped. Tony's face was pale. His eyes were wide open in pure shock. His blue eyes that were once like electric blue light, was a dull soft blue. His mouth was left agape. Rhodey helped get him up and was about to pull him over to the work table to lay him down, he wouldn't budge. He was now standing up on his own,but still unresponsive.

"Tony?" Pepper asked.

Nothing.

"Tony man are you okay?" Rhodey called out.

Nothing. He didn't even blink.

"Ohmigosh! This is just like the time when Gene came for the eight ring! They both just froze!" Pepper panicked. "What if he's like this forever!"

"Pepper!" Rhodey snapped. "Calm down. We just have to try a little harder."

Pepper calmed down as Rhodey told her to. She Turned to Tony and eyed him as if he was about to fall or pass out. She wished he would do one of those. It would show signs of life. And she knew he wasn't dead. But still she could worry. But still she liked it when the teen genius was moving and didn't look like a shocked to death statue.

"Come on Tony. I don't know if you can hear me. But I want you to come back. I want you to stop giving me the impression that your dead. Or at least the impression that you'll be a statue forever. I don't want that. Rhodey doesn't either. So please. Come back." She said. She knew it was sappy, but she thought if she could just get him to hear something important than he'd force himself back.

(Tony's POV)~ 3rd person.

_Tony was, for some odd reason, in an airport. To be exact it was the airport. The same exact one that he last saw his mom before she died. He thought it would be a more sad of a reunion for he hadn't seen that place since that day. It haunted his memories. He didn't like to think of what had happened that day at exactly 6:05 P.M. It was not something he never thought about unless he had to. Like he didn't like airports, so he used his jet. His mom was another reason he didn't like weapons. Weapons took his mother away from him. He thought it would be a much sadder atmosphere. Now it only looked empty and forbidding, yet gleeful. _

_He sat in a chair not remembering how he got there or why. It was as if he had popped out of no where. For all he knew, he did. But the chair he was in was oddly familiar. There was a woman sitting next to him. For a split second he was afraid that it'd be his mother and that she would scold him for not listening to her as she spoke to him the rules about being on a plane like she did that day. But when he turned he saw that the woman was only a short black haired woman that wore a light amount of make-up and was frowning and...was looking at Tony with care. _

"_Hello Tony." The woman said. "I'm Jessamine if you don't know."_

"_... Hi-Um... I don't know you. Should I?" Tony said still afraid that this woman would suddenly snap away and he'd see the nightmare of a memory that happened in that chair. The chair Jessamine was sitting in. He could still remember all the blood that was on there. _

"_No you shouldn't know me. In fact it's wrong that you know me. It's never good when one meets me. They always end up dead at one point. I'm like a bad omen." She pursed her enlightened lips. Her small amount of lipstick clashed with her dark skin. If she just take of the badly placed make-up, she'd look as if she was related to Roberta, but her eyes that were a purple and were way too small to be any relative to Roberta said otherwise. _

"_So is this even real?" Tony asked. It felt real. He just didn't want to believe it. He didn't want to ever have anything to do with this airport. If it had better security and stronger metal detectors, they would have noticed that a man was roaming around the airport with some kind of weapon. But when Howard blamed the airport for the death of Maria, they defended themselves claiming that not only were the metal detectors malfunctioning, that the weapons weren't even metal, but even when they ran tests it proved to be metal. They got off easily with 'money' to pay for new metal detectors. _

"_Of course it is. In your mind it is." Jessamine answered at last. _

"_How did I get here?" Tony asked looking around to see if Rhodey or Pepper were with him. Maybe he just strolled off and the shock of finding the chair made him loose all sense of reality. But wouldn't he remember if he came here with somebody? Wouldn't he remember walking all the way to this spot that was so much buried in the airport. _

"_The shadows took you. Isn't that obvious. That's how everybody got here just before they died. Like I said, meeting me is like meeting your worst omen. But it's different for every person." She paused and saw the look on Tony's face. "Don't look at me like that. It's not like I'm the one that kills them. Do you even think I like this job. I was a normal human. Livin' in southern South America. My village is attacked. I'm taken to some kind of shadow land and forced to talk to others and be one of the last persons you may ever speak to. Don't be askin me why. Aria has her strange ways of killing us humans."_

_Tony being as confused as ever just stared at her. Just stared at the woman who was ranting off about be forced to do stuff she didn't want to do. If he wasn't in this situation, he'd be trying to save her. Help her get out of this situation. But no. He was trapped in some kind of shadow land with no clue how to get out and had no idea how he even got there. _

_Wait. Who was Aria?_

"_Who's Aria?" Tony asked._

_Jessamine and the whole airport was shifting. Like looking at the world through a giant water bubble. But it was also fading. Fading into nothing. The last thing the dark skinned woman said was, "Beware of Aria."_

_It was back then. But not for long. And now, he was in the hospital. The same hospital that gave him false hope that his mother could still live. The doctors said that she was sturdy. They said she would live. They said she hadn't lost enough blood and that she would die and that she got to the hospital just on time. Ten minutes later her vitals were all wrong. She was shaking and she died of internal bleeding. The weapon caused he to get her gull bladder removed, but didn't kill her. It also tore through tissue. But that wasn't why she died. She died from when she was hit in the ribs with the back of a chair. In front of her husband and child. Everybody saw. They still don't know why she was killed and why she was strangely targeted._

_This was the place that his mother actually died. He heard a laugh. He turned to find out what it was. There was nothing. Then it was there again only louder. It was taunting him, laughing at him. He spun around. _

"_I killed your mother, child." A voice laughed, but nobody was there. _

"_Go away!" Tony snapped._

"_In front of your own precious blue eyes." The voiced laughed on as if the genius had said nothing. "You had no say in whether or not she lived."_

"_There was nothing I could do. I was young." Tony said angrily._

"_Yes. So I killed a defensless woman and got away with it."_

"_No. No. you went to prison for it."_

"_Doesn't change the fact that she died."_

_Tony was about to continue when there was an odd light. It was...strange. It went away as soon as it came. Though now the room was filled with happy laughter. Sad sobs. The same voice. The voice he could never forget. _

"_Tony! Please. Just come back to me. To US! We need you. What ever is going on it'll be alright. If this is like... that last time just know that it isn't any more real than you make it."_

_Pepper._

"_Don't listen to her. You know all your doing is putting her in danger. The same thing will just happen to her. I wasn't alone." The taunting voice laughed._

"_Please." her voice was now cracking. "I need to know that your okay and not dead. At least move. Blink."_

_There was a long pause and Tony blinked. He moved. He ran in circles trying his best to ignore the taunting voice and listen to the one that sounded like angels were falling from the sky. Trying to ignore where he was and what had happened here. _

On the outside tony still remained still as a statue.

"_COME ON! I WANT TO GO BACK!" Tony yelled in frustration. _

"_Can you say something." Tony did. "What about move a finger. Look around?" Tony did both. _

"_I wouldn't bother. Nobody just gets out because they want to. They get out when their mind is too stressed out." A new voice taunted him. Gene. What was he doing here?_

"_I will NOT BE CONTROLLED BY SOMETHING THAT ISN"T EVEN REAL!" Tony yelled out to nowhere and realized that the hospital was empty as if time had stopped. _

_Then everything was gone. Blackness again. And he saw the worried sick face of his favorite red head. His best friend not to far from her. He reached to touch it. _

In the real world, Pepper was close to tears. Well closer to actually breaking down. She was Holding one of Tony's stiff hands and his shoulder. She loosened her grip and let go. "Maybe if we just give him some time. Like the other time."

Rhodey opened his mouth to say something, but before he was able to He was smacked under the chin with what seemed to be a hand and a surprised shout was sounded. The two teens looked at the teen they turned from in surprise. It was tony now fully aware of what was happening and that this was reality.

"Whoa. I like this reality a lot better than the shadow world." Tony said.

"TONY!" Pepper practically screeched and ran into him for a hug.

He hugged her back. Though he wasn't exactly as enthusiastic about the hug as she was. His mind was glued to the...vision...? Or whatever it was that happened to him only moments ago. Now he couldn't stop thinking about his mom. But when he was actually there he wasn't exactly dreading or grieving, he was more like mad and angry that had happened to his mother.

Pepper stepped back noticing the gloomy atmosphere her friend was radiating. She eyed his face for a second before he turned around hiding his face. She couldn't even get a read on what was wrong or if something was wrong. For all she knew, he didn't like hugs. For all she knew, he was mad at her for some strange reason and didn't want _her _to give him a hug. She couldn't read his posture. It was all too new for her. She was about to asking him what was wrong, but she realized that his head was looking back and forth as if looking for something. Or someone.

"She's gone." Pepper said understanding what he was looking for.

"Yeah." Rhodey chided in.

"I don't know for how long though." Tony said before going directly to the computer not saying another word.

His friends caught the tone he was using and understood enough to know that he was sad and upset. Unless he was so mad that him trying to hide it made him sound depressing. That was unlikely. He always took his anger out on his wrench or the latest invention he made. When he was sad, he tried his best to hide it. When he was hurt he hid it. But when he was happy or excited it was always different. It was sometimes easy or sometimes it was harder than ever to tell. If you were looking for it.

"Tony-"

"I don't want to talk about it Rhodey."

Rhodey shut his mouth.

Tony just walked to his computer and typed a few things down. Pepper would have pressed on. She was the persistent one after all. But she was still saddened by his tone. Though a small part of her a was a tad bit mad. Mad that when Tony was upset he wouldn't even tell his best friends what was wrong. Didn't he every think that they could be a help to him?

A search result to what ever Tony was looking up, popped up. It was the search on recent criminals. It was of a girl that they didn't know the full name of. Just the first name and the 'nickname'.

~Aria (A.K.A Shadow fiend)

"Whoa! Tony how'd you know her first name? We only knew her nickname!" Pepper said.

"Another thing I'm not ready to talk about." Tony mumbled before reading more info on this recent criminal.

Turns out she's not so recent. Just recent to New York. She kills almost every human she can get to that's alone and out of eye sight of others. She is a known mutant. She travels around the world making it hard for her to be caught for her constant new location.

That was it. She was a very unknown villain. She was no criminal to Tony. She earned the oh so fabulous title of a villain. The criminal that's too known and too strong to even be considered as a criminal. She was also tied to the murderer title. So far she could have lots of titles, but Tony wasn't going to let her get the best of him. This was his city to protect and if he failed to save those lives he'd never forgive himself.

"So Tony whats you plan? And can you please tell me what is upsetting you so much? What happened when you... froze?" Pepper asked.

Tony sighed. He'd have to tell her at one point. He told them what had happened, what he had seen. About Jessamine, about the voice of the person that killed his mother. How he knew that was the voice of the killer was a mystery to everybody. But he just did. He told them about why he was so sad. His mothers death of course.

Knowing Tony, you didn't want to give him hugs when he was upset like that. He didn't want pity, he wanted understanding. To be left alone. But at the moment their was a villain roaming about. So they had to stick together and put an end to her. Not in death, but a prison sentence.

"So the plan...?" Rhodey pressed.

"Oh right. That. I was thinking until we can find her we warn people about her. Make her more known to the public than just the police or government." Tony said.

Rhodey and Pepper eyed each other knowing most of the time it was no good to hear Tony speak that way. He was speaking with pride, but with knowing that this was wrong. It wasn't Iron man's job to warn people about the danger. It was his job to get rid of the danger. But this was his way, but the only way of telling the people that this was him getting rid of the villain, he'd have to give away the plan risking Aria finding out and leaving to some other place or something.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Pepper asked still skeptical about this plan.

It went against her to do something that the police wouldn't like. That Shield wouldn't like. They wouldn't want this information getting out. Most likely afraid that the news that a psychotic murderer was on the loose and was a mutant with evil powers

"I mean we go to the public, like Central Square, and warn them that there is a evil mutant that targets people alone and out of sight of others and will kill them. I just want to advise them to not be alone, stay away from alleys or large fields, and to keep an eye out for anything strange. This will keep them alert until the matter is dealt with and New York is safe again."

"Tony that's against what the police are like. They wouldn't want this. It could cause a state wide panic and yet she is only in New York." Rhodey said.

"Yes I know it may cause a panic, but when people are in panic they do what ever it takes to be safe, there for binding them to the advise and making them stick together and avoid being in deserted areas of town." Tony explained and when he saw his friends looks he sighed. "Look do you think I want to make a state wide panic? Do you think I want to get the police on my tail when I'm only trying to save NY? Well, I don't. But being iron man, I have to do my job and keep New York safe. So if you don't mind I'm going to plan what I'm going to say so I don't sound like an idiot and I don't exaggerate anything."

Tony turned away from his friends and turned the computer off. He stared to head off to the door to go start on his plan. It would have to be the next day that the announcement was made. It was in fact almost 2 o'clock in the morning. They were just lucky that Pepper was sleeping over...

Pepper and Rhodey stared at the door that Tony just left through. "So if Tony does get arrested, how are we supposed to bail him out without Tony's identity getting revealed to more than just the police or shield?" Pepper asked.

Rhodey could only shrug not wanting to know what would happen if his friend was arrested as Iron man. Cause who knows who would get the identity of iron man.

**I was thinking about being optimistic about this chapter, but to be completely honest, i'm not. I dont really like it myself, but its the best i could do at the moment. BUT i got three more days of school and i'll be given as much time as i need to write. AND for my birthday in oct i will be getting my own computer that can actually type and have internet so yeah at that time, i'll have loads of time to write. But til then you'll have to deal with rushed chapters. I know i dont have to rush, but to be honest i dont like spending more than the needed time to write. Review?**


	6. Shadows part 2

**I'm SOO SOO Sorry for the long wait! But i was out of town, getting other stories updated and had writers block for my one of my other stories, and it was good neighbor days (a kind of festival) AND i got sick. THEN my lactose intolerance acted up and i almost had to go to the hospital. (I can't eat dairy unless i take these special pills or drink this special brand of milk that my school or stores will give me. in case you didnt know) Then i couldn't sleep so i started to actally sleep in til 4:30 PM! Yeah so i've been busy, but hopefully my stomach will stop bothering me and i'll be able to finish this chapter! -which it did...for now. oh and i've been working on my next big story that will be posted when i finish a few chapters of it and when a few of my stories get finished up.  
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**Seriously I'm losing track of the time in this story, all I remember is that its supposed to be dark. So I restarted the day thing, school for them is the next day. Cause honestly if you weren't confused at that then I'm shocked. But I was so I decided to fix that the best to my ability. Its a Saturday night.**

**(On my profile at the bottom the vase is there. I just thought I'd show you the kind of vase it was.)**

**(also on the bottom is a Photo of linked arms as described later on... just so you understand what i'm talking about cause sometimes i think you cant.)**

**I OWN NOTHING!  
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Tony laid down in his bed thinking deeply. He couldn't stop thinking that maybe he had jumped the gun with the plan. _Maybe it wasn't the best idea to just think that Fury would allow me to tell the public this freely. _Tony thought. _Maybe I should tell someone...like the police or Shield..._

Tony shook his head. Yes he should, but that also involved the problem that Shield wouldn't let him or the police. They would tell him no cause it would panic through the streets. Which in Tony's opinion, it was better than having random citizens being killed off the streets. Tony also knew what Fury would most likely say. '_stay out of my way. Shield has this under control._' Then everything goes wrong and Tony is forced to fix it.

Shield was great an all, but sometimes they got it into their head that they were the best at catching criminals and villains. But no really the thing they were best at other than getting all stuck up, was that they were able to keep their missions more secret and away from reporters. That was something Tony lacked. News reports always tried to get his fights on camera. Citizens did as well. Tony sometimes thought that he was the best, but pretty much he was right. At least he didn't have it stuck up in his head that he was the best and nobody should even dare try to help. He wasn't like that. As long as it kept people safe.

Tony rolled over uncomfortably in bed. The nerves were getting to him and he couldn't sleep. Rhodey after having a small talk with Pepper had walked home and by the time he was home, which was only minutes after Tony since Rhodey could see Tony all the way home until Rhodey stopped at a corner deep in thought, hence the reason he was late, Tony had already in bed. Or in his bed wide awake.

Pepper of course left at the same time as Rhodey, but she took a taxi cause she was falling asleep already and Rhodey wouldn't let her walk home.

Blinking, Tony sat up deep in his own thoughts. He hung his legs over the ledge of his bed and sighed resting his head on his palms. His eyes were narrowed as he tried to figure out more about this Aria villain. He only knew that she liked to kill people when they were alone. She had no known reason, she just killed. Which on any terms was wrong in Tony's book. If he had a book. He also knew he by her first name and nickname, which didn't help. He only knew what she did and who she was...sorta.

He let go a breath he didn't know he was holding and let his face fall into his hands. He clamped his eyes shut. He was starting to stress out. Sure he's faced Gene, which in his mind was ten times worse than any of these new villains he's been facing. But these new villains are also worse by that they haven't given him a break. He's running low on armors, energy, and time. School was on Monday and it was Sunday. Well Sunday only started about 2 hours before. It had been villain after villain, and Tony didn't even know if it was from one source or just coincidental that they all attack after another. It had to be.

He ran his hand through his hair and sighed in distress as he stood up. He looked around in hopes that he'd find something to distract himself or something that would give him an idea. He room was actually pretty tidy. Roberta now understanding why Tony hadn't really cleaned his room was clear so she had put a little of her free time to help out. She sometimes could see either her son or her adoptive son, stressing out so she'd try her best to lower it down without having to do too much that would stress her out too much. Tony had noticed. Even in his mixed up mind at the moment he smiled slightly that she'd do that for him even though he lied to her over and over and missed multiple meals.

The smile was gone almost instantly as he realized a clean room wasn't really helping the constant villain thing. He frowned now and furrowed his eyebrows in concentration. He had to get word to the public in anyway he could, so meaning getting to a place with tons of people there, and a reporter or two. Maybe he'd hack into the add screens and put it all over the screens around town. He just had to hope the police understood how dangerous of a situation they were in at the moment and that hopefully it was only temporary. He had to make that a very important point. If they didn't get that it was only temporary they'd never stop being in panic. Maybe...

He opened his window and stuck his small fan into in facing inward so it blew in the cool breeze. It helped his headache, a little bit. It also helped clear his mind so he was able to focus on the problem that he was busy facing. But he didn't notice how thirsty he was until he sat down to think. So he got up and walked out of his room being as silent as he could as he walked through the house to the kitchen. He didn't even bother to throw on a shirt cause he was only getting something to drink. He blinked a few times to see if he had gone the right way. One way went to the living room that went to the kitchen, and one went straight to the back door. His mind had been so tired that he couldn't tell if he was even going the right way. Which he soon found out that he was so he continued his way to the kitchen.

Yawning he opened the cupboard that held the cups and bowls and gazed around to find just a simple plain cup. As he did he pulled it down and twisted the cold water knob on and pushed the cup under the running water. He watched the water fill up to the brim and switched the water off and began drinking. Though as he was drinking he didn't realize that he wasn't the only one in the kitchen. When he finished his drink, he set it down next to the sink and sighed tiredly as he turned around to leave when he came face to face with a girl. It wasn't just a girl cause that would just be weird. It was Aria.

"Hello Tony." She said calmly. She was holding a vase of flowers that Roberta had gotten many years earlier. It was a simple small glass vase holding just the simplest of roses and tulips.

Tony only glared at her.

"Oh don't look look at me like that. Its a pretty vase. Well the flowers are in that case." She said keeping her eyes solidly on the vase. She was smirking at it.

"Yes the vase is very pretty now why are you here?" Tony asked getting to the point.

"Wow. You less fun than I thought." She sighed dramatically. "Oh well it'll just have to be that way. No fun. But I must say this whole you demand and I don't give will make things a whole lot more interesting."

"What do you want?" Tony said in annoyance.

She waved a hand at him balancing the vase dangerously in one hand. "Are you even listening? I said its like a game. You demand for answers and I ignore them to make things fun."

"I'm not demanding, I'm asking." Tony said tiredly.

"Still I like to make things fun. Lets go for a walk. How about it? You grab your cup and fill it up in case you get thirsty. I'll just set this down..." She said placing the vase carefully in the center of the kitchen floor. "Right here." Tony didn't realize that she had place a yellow sticky note.

With raised eyebrows Tony refilled his water cup half way. He wasn't about to do something stupid when he was so close to Rhodey and Roberta who Aria could easily get to if she was angered. He turned around and Aria was smiling as she leaned against the back of the counter. The reflection of the moon looming darkly in her black eyes, that Tony was making sure he didn't look into. Her multicolored hair waved as she turned her head side to side examining the room.

"Nice house. I gotta say it's a lot cleaner than I thought it would be." She said.

"Why did you think it'd be messy?"

She only glared at him and walked up to him. She grabbed his wrist and pulled him along with her as she speed walked out of the house and onto the side of the road. He was getting nervous to what she was really there for cause he had no idea and the way she was speaking sorta of scared him. It didn't help that he knew that he had no armor and no way of contacting Rhodey or Pepper.

He shivered as the cold, chilly air brushed past his bare skin. He was only wearing his jogging pants he slept in without a shirt cause his room tended to get a bit hot. At times he would take small sips of water just to give him something to do for he was completely bored to death when Aria stopped talking completely. She hadn't said a word to him. She only dragged him to the busy part of town. Though as they got to the busy streets she let go of his wrist and stopped. Tony stopped as well. He felt like running and yelling for help, but knowing that she controlled the shadows and could instantly put him into the shadow land place.

She only looked at him mischievously and walked over closer to him. She grabbed his arm and held onto it and put her other hand over her own that was resting hooked around Tony's elbow. As if they were a couple in the 1800's. The only difference, it was modern day and Tony wasn't holding his arm out for her to take it. But when he nervously turned his head over to look at her she was smiling. She wasn't looking at him, but she was smiling. Tony narrowed his eyes but they instantly widened when she seemed to press closer to him.

"Uh...what are you doing...?" He asked awkwardly.

"What do you think? I'm holding your arm. What else would I be doing?" She said with an innocent smile playing at her lips.

"I don't know... something other than that." He said trying to remove his arm from her.

She only held on tighter. She leaned in close. "I'm just trying to look like we're normal citizens. We both know none of us are normal, but if I have to I will go to the other two. See if their more fun."

Tony's eyes widened in fear. "No it's okay."

Her smile widened. "Good."

"Where are we going?"

She looked over at him and rested her chin on his shoulder. "No where you need to know right now."

Tony took a shakily breath and looked forward as she removed her chin from his shoulder and continued to follow her or just let her direct them. They turned at every or every other corner and she looked as if she was really headed to somewhere. Tony didn't want to listen to her, but honestly he was afraid that she'd go after Rhodey. She knew where he lived and apparently she knew where Pepper lived as well. He also feared that he'd go back to that one place and never return from it. Last time he only got out was because of Pepper's voice, but this time he wouldn't have it.

He had no choice.

"So tell me about yourself Tony." Aria said. "I'd love to know more about you."

"Um...uh...okay, but I don't know what to say." Tony said looking away from her to be sure that their eyes never met.

"Okay start about your parents. What were they like?"

Tony froze in his spot only to be yanked out of it by Aria. "My parents?"

"Yes. Stop doing that."

"Doing what?"

She sighed in annoyance. "Acting all scared. Iron Man shouldn't be scared."

"Shh!" Tony snapped.

She only shrugged so Tony started his little story on his parents. "My mom was killed when I was young, so all I could tell you that I know is that she loved to travel. But my dad was the owner of Stark International, until this plane crash took his life." He wasn't going to tell her the entire truth. "I'm now lined up to take it when I turn 18. He never liked weapons so he only made inventions to help people. As will I."

"Good. Now what about your friends."

"Can we not talk about them?" He asked as nicely as he could.

"Why not?" She asked innocently.

He looked down. "I just don't want to talk about them to you okay!"

She used her hand opposite of the one nearest to him to lift his head up. He jerked his head away from her hand and she lowered her hand back to where it was a smiled to herself knowing that she was scaring him. She made an sound of excitement and turned sharply taking Tony with her and was practically skipping in a building that they were next to. For a moment Tony just stood there in wonder to where they were until he realized that they were actually in an apartment. She grabbed him by the wrist and dragged him up two flights of stairs and into a room. He looked at the number of It. It was 303.

_303. 303. 303. _Tony kept repeating the number in his head.

She shoved him down onto a couch and took his water from him and carelessly threw it into the wall. She was frowning now. She grabbed him by the shoulders and shoved him against the wall angrily.

"I know what you're up to!" She snapped.

Shocked Tony didn't know what to say.

"I know you're trying to put a stop to me, But I will not let that happen. Another person getting in my way." She growled.

"I-I didn't mean to make you upset."

"Really? Cause it sure looked like you were Tony." She said slamming him against the wall.

"Look all I'm trying to do is save innocent people!" Tony snapped back trying to get out of her hold.

"Innocent?" She yelled and once again smashed Tony into the wall letting go. He fell roughly to the ground. "Humans are always shunning me! Just because I'm not like them! My own _parents_ kicked me out of the house they hated me so much! Tell me. How is _that _innocent?"

Tony moved to sit up but she kicked him back down. He frowned and looked up at her avoiding her eyes. "That's not innocent, but if you just tried I'm sure there could've been some way to prove them guilty and get them into legal trouble for that."

Right now all he was trying to do was keep himself alive, so he didn't leave his friends alone.

"How? How are you supposed to do that when tons of others are against mutants as well?" She said as she dragged Tony off the ground.

"Y-your a mutant?" Tony asked.

Aria sighed in annoyance. "Yes! I've told you too much! You useless human!"

One hand holding him against the wall and now the other one was holding Tony by the chin roughly forcing him to look at her. He made sure that his eyes were closed so he didn't looked into her eyes. Her hand squeezed tighter her nails digging painfully into his cheeks and neck. "Look at me!"

"No." he said defiantly.

"If you don't, I'll be sure that I visit your friends you don't like to talking about. Hmm? How does that sound?"

"It sounds horrible." Tony said risking to open his eyes. Thought he kept his gaze to her mouth or chin.

"In the eyes Tony. I'll always remember those shockingly blue eyes." She almost hissed.

Regretfully, Tony looked into her pitch black pits of eyes. It was not what he expected. His eyes began to hurt so he blinked. He started to shake and Aria let go. He tumbled to the ground. She dragged him to the kitchen part of the apartment and dropped him to the floor. He was freezing and shaking and weak. His muscles were tense and flexing involuntarily.

Aria walked away and Tony could hardly move to see what she was doing. All he knew was that she was still there and that his shaking had stopped. He frowned as he heard something that sounded a lot like a large jug of water...? Then not two seconds later came the sound of something being poured onto the floor. With furrowed eyebrows, Tony forced himself into a sitting position. He looked around for Aria to see what she was doing, but his eyes were unfocused and fuzzy. Everything was pitch black yet the window was open. The moon light didn't even come through. And it was even more odd with the ceiling light was on and no light was actually emitting off of it.

Tony's eyes widened as he realized Aria must have been controlling the shadows to make them get heavier. He looked around desperately trying to find light or even Aria, but his vision failed him. He was too weak.

"There. Well it was nice knowing you Tony. I had a nice walk." Aria's voice laughed. "Oh and remember, don't play with flames. It could never end well."

With that the door shut and flames grew giving the room light, but not much. The sound of the door locking made Tony flinch. The flame continued to grow and they grew until they were everywhere, but the small area he was in. But he wasn't anywhere near a window for the only window in the room was across the entire room. The fluid was gasoline. Or maybe lighter fluids...either way it was dangerous.

It didn't help the fact that the longer the flames were there the more likely the ceiling on both ends would collapse and the flames would come closer and closer to Tony. And Tony knew it. There was no way out.

* * *

><p>(At the house)<p>

Rhodey opened his eyes and frowned when he realized that it was still dark out. He closed his eyes to go back to sleep, but his eyes wouldn't stay shut. So he sighed and sat up in bed. He yawned and looked at the clock. It was almost three o'clock. He stood up and something felt off. He didn't know what it was, but something felt wrong. He frowned and stood up and began to walk out the room. He yawned tiredly again and looked around. The house was so quiet. Nothing new, but it didn't help the nervous feeling that Rhodey was feeling.

He walked past his mothers room and opened the door. She was still there. So he checked Tony's room next knowing that it was most likely going to be him that wasn't in his room. He was right. His door was wide open. His window was open but his fan was in it. He walked to the kitchen knowing that his friend liked to sneak snacks in the middle of the night, but froze when he saw that he wasn't there. But the cupboard that hid the cups was open and a cup was missing entirely. He knew that cause he knew the dishes had been cleaned that day. The sink was running ever so slightly. Thought that wasn't what was odd. The flower vase of his mothers was laying in the center of the kitchen. He raised an eyebrow and walked over to pick it up. As he picked it up he felt a piece of paper that had been stuck on there had fallen off. He caught it before it hit the ground and the light was already on so he read it.

_Careful what you get yourselves intp. -Oh I did say I would be back didn't I? ~SF _

_P.S.-Flames are dangerous when played with. Apartm.3 F.3 RM. 303. Hint hint you should get moving._

For such a small piece of paper it sure could have a lot writen on it. But Rhodey couldn't figure out what it meant. He thought of who SF could be until it finally snapped. Shadow Fiend. Or Aria. Rhodey's eyes widened and the vase slipped out of his grasp and smashed with a sickening shattering sound. He was frozen in place not knowing what to do. Not long later his mom rushed in worriedly and grabbed her sons arm and turned him around.

"James. What happened? What's wrong?" She asked.

"Tony. I think he's in trouble."

"Why?" She asked.

Rhodey handed her the note and she read it. It looked like she read it over twice before she looked back to Rhodey. "Who's SF."

"Shadow fiend. Aria. Iron Man's latest villain. S-She took Tony. She said she'd be back. We didn't listen or think she'd be back so soon." Rhodey choked out.

"It'll be okay. She left some clues. She wants us to find him."

"Yeah but dead or alive?"

"I'm sure he's fine."

"He didn't have his armor mom. She sent him to some other kind of world just by looking at his eyes." Rhodey said in a panicked tone that he rarely used.

"Shh." Roberta said patting her son on the back. "Just look. Flames. He'll be by fire. Am I right?"

Rhodey nodded.

"So Aprartm. I'm sure she put the m there to confuse us. So apart. Apartment? 3...? F...um..."

"Floor." Rhodey said looking down.

"Right. So apartment 3 floor 3. Rm of course is room. So...room number 303. That ring a bell?"

Rhodey shook his head.

"Rhodey it's an address."

Rhodey looked up at his mom in surprise. "Really?"

She nodded. Okay. "So what does this have to do with Flames?"

"Maybe...like you said he's by fire..." Rhodey said then his head snapped back up to his mom. "The address he's at is on fire!"

Roberta's eyes widened and she nodded. Just in time to hear sirens of fire trucks. Both of their heads twisted as they watched them drive by in the distance.

"I'm going to make a call." Rhodey said. He ran to his room and grabbed his cell phone. His mother followed. He dialed the armory.

"Computer, tell me has there been any fires in the city?" Rhodey asked.

He half wished that the computer said no cause then that'd mean that they guessed wrong, but then if the computer said yes than they knew where Tony was.

[affirmative. East side apartments.]

"Can you give me a more specific address?"

[East side apartment 3 on third floor room number 303.]

Rhodey's skin paled. "Thanks." He hung up and put on a sweater and put his phone in it.

Roberta looked at him questioningly. He answered her unasked question. "Yes its the address. That's where Tony is. It is on fire."

Roberta nodded and grabbed a sweater of her own from her own room, Rhodey grabbed the iron man armor backpack, and the two ran out the door. As they drove they got more worried that Tony would be dead by the time that someone came to save them.

Rhodey held on tightly to the backpack as he called Pepper.

"Hello?" Her tired voice came.

"Hi Pepper! Do you mind going to the east side apartments?"

"Rhodey's its almost three in the morning? Tony never even calls this late and he's always up."

"I know Pepper, but Tony's in trouble. Just be there okay? I'll be there to meet you. I'll be with my mom. If I'm not there, then I'm saving Tony."

Pepper's line went dead and Rhodey knew that she was on the way. So he hung up and looked out his windows. What he saw was a entire half of a apartment, had been set on fire. And he knew something that was more horrifying than the size of the fire.

Tony was in there.

**Okay so i know i normally only have two chapters per villain, but i also did say, i think i did, that some of them will have maybe three and _possibly _4 parts to them. i think this one will only be 3 parts. and i'm sorry to all those Pepper fans cause she only has a few sentences in this chapter...Rhodey and Roberta became detective! ^.^ i dunno why i said that...-.- okay, **

**Oh and I'm SO SORRY to those of you who were expecting Tony's plan to go to action...DONT worry cause i'm making the next chapter have that. Hopefully i don't forget. **

**Carpetbakr Thank you for the villain idea!  
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**Finny-Kun Goddess-I'll be working on you villain next so just you wait! I'm also working on your ideas for baby genius SO THANK YOU FOR YOUR GENIUS IDEAS! *coughs* sorry for the caps. -.-  
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**EpikalStorms-Thanks for the villain idea yours is after Finny-Kun Goddess' so yeah ^.^ cant wait! Oh and prepare for the ton of questions cuz i asked both Carpetbakr and Finny a ton of questions. just ask them. so yeahh just a fair warning!  
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**Cindylou30-THANK YOU! it means alot and don't be sorry not a ton of people read this, but i don't care i got enough people reading it and i enjoy writing this. so we cool? And YES i'm still taking villain idea's cuz this story is meant to be a long one so i need lots of villains. If you get one you'll be after EpikalStorms. So yea any idea you have just tell me! THANK you I try my best.  
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**SORRY i haven't done shout outs in a while. But i have the _worst _memory when it comes to that. BUT yeah now i'm going to work on the final chapter to 'Everybody deserves a second chance'! So biya!  
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	7. Shadows part 3

**Okay so sorry that i haven't updated in like forever, but i've been busy. seriously. I got sick, then i had some sort of sleep deprivation and didn't get any sleep what so ever for almost three days. And it doesn't help that my brother had friends over for about a week and they took the computer over! Then my lil bro has been stealing the computer. And i've been working on this other story that is about 20 pages right now, and i think i have to rewrite most of it. Grr... Well i'll stop complaining. **

**Oh and sorry again for taking so long. OH and i'd also like to apologize for two more things, Sorry for the shortness, i tried to make it longer, and sorry i still haven't included the warning or public announcement in this chapter. There will be four parts to this and i personally apologize to Finny-Kun Goddess for delaying her villain. I'll get there soon i promise! Sorry.  
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**Just...enjoy! I Do not own IMAA at all. I don't make no money on this and nor do i want to.  
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* * *

><p>Tony could already hear the sirens ringing. He could already tell that they were close. Aria didn't really think about the fact that there was a fire department, that would put out fires. But then again she also was depending on only killing Tony with out having it seem like it was murder. Just an accident. But his eyes burned up from the smoke, and he was still weakened. He had crawled to the sink and was glad for the water sprayer thingy. He used it to wet the floor around him and the flames that were getting closer and closer.<p>

Letting go of his temporary hose, he dropped weakly to the ground, breathing deeply. It was cooler down there with the water sprayed out on the floor. Smoke was gathering where there was no flames. Yet. It was where he was. The smoke that didn't rise up to the ceiling, collected around Tony. He coughed up uneasily. He was blinking furiously. He put his arms in front of him and used one hand to smother up the smoke that was choking him. With the other one, he pulled him towards a spot that hadn't set on fire yet. The fridge. Now with a shaky hand, he opened the fridge glad to see that it was filled with food and drinks. Somebody other than Aria lived here. At least they weren't home. Unless Aria killed them...

He forced himself in a sitting position. He looked more in the fridge, and almost sighed in relief when he saw a pitcher of water. He grabbed it and pulled it out, nearly dropping it. His eyes widened and he made a move to catch it. He was getting better and faster, but it didn't mean anything. He looked around and crawled closer to the flames that was starting to get closer to him. Almost the entire apartment was in flames now.

Just as he threw the water from the pitcher, there was a crash and a shift in the flames. Looking up above the flames, he saw that the ceiling had collapsed. He looked back down seeing that his water trick had done nothing, but dimmer the size of one spot of the fire. He sighed in frustration. He threw the pitcher down causing it to shatter.

He had gone through too much. It seems like he was being targeted, but he knew that Ra was targeting Rhodey, so its not all going on him, yet he took a lot of the hits that were directed at Rhodey. But still it seemed like for one person, he shouldn't be getting this and it had only been a few days. Everyday there had been an attack and school was tomorrow. He'd definitely need to know what was going on. No doubt.

He stopped his moving as the flames got closer. Better to die on bravery than running away scared. No he had no where to run, but it was just a figure of speech. Sorta. He wanted to be brave and accept that it was his time. If it wasn't than something would come and save him. But he was going to accept it. He didn't want to, but that was the only way.

Then it came to him. It was daring, but worth living. He could run through the flames. He stood up feeling a bit better. He staggered to the flame and took in a deep breath preparing to run. Then he took a warm up step forward.

* * *

><p>(With Rhodey)<p>

Rhodey got out of the car and ran to an alley. He instantly armored up in the Iron man armor and flew in the air calling Pepper. She answered at the first ring.

"Rhodey, where are you?" I'm here." She asked.

"About to fly in a flaming apartment. Where are you?" Rhodey replied targeting the room.

"Whoa! Tony's in the room on fire? The firemen are just setting up the hoses." Pepper said.

Rhodey didn't say anything and flew into the house. He landed in the living room part of the house and looked around. A spot that wasn't in flames was the corner that had a broken glass cup on it. The one that was missing at the house. Tony was here definitely. He looked around and saw nothing but flames. _No. _He flew through it glad for the flame proof armor. He heard glass shatter and smiled in huge relief. Tony was alive. For now. He changed direction and flew just a few feet forward and came to a small kitchen that wasn't empty. Tony stood there looking ready to run and had taken a few warm up steps before falling down. If the house wasn't on fire it would have been funny, but that wasn't the case.

He flew over to his fallen friend who was in a coughing fit from the smoke. He picked him up and tony narrowed is eyes through the smoke. "Rhodey?"

His voice was raspy as if he had something stuck in his throat. "I'm here." Rhodey replied and flew out.

"Pepper I have him." Rhodey said.

"How is he?"

"Choked. that's all I can say right now." Rhodey landed by the police officers. They looked over at him and saw the state that Tony was in.

A familiar officer that they've seen multiple times speaks up. "Was he in that fire?"

"Yes, sir." 'Iron man' told him.

"He hand him to me. I'll take care of him." The officer said holding his hands out.

Tony looked at Rhodey giving him the 'no' look. But Rhodey only shook his head at Tony and handed him to the awaiting officers arms.

The officer nodded to 'Iron man' and gave him his thanks and Rhodey flew off to join his mother and Pepper. He got his armor off secretly and ran to his car to find Pepper sitting carelessly on the car and his mom looking annoyed.

"James, get her off the car." His mother told him.

He nodded and walked to the front of the car where Pepper was sitting. "Pepper my mom wants you off the car."

"Oh okay. Why didn't she say anything? I'm mean I'm going to listen to her. It's not like I have much of a choice at that. It would be completely different if she asked me-"

"Pepper!"

"Oh sorry." Pepper said stepping down.

"It's okay. Tony is being given medical attention right now. He was in the heat of the smoke. Must have been bad on his lungs." Rhodey said looked around at the scene. They finally hooked up the hose moments ago and began to spray the fire down.

The fire died down after about 10 minutes. Maybe less. Once it did, Roberta, Pepper, and Rhodey walked in to see what was going on with tony. He was sitting in the back of an ambulance with one of those oxygen masks. A doctor was checking his blood pressure and heart beat, while a officer questioned him for they knew that he didn't live at that apartment.

"I didn't do anything!" Tony said pulling of the oxygen mask.

"Please keep that on." The doctor said.

"Sorry." Tony said putting it back on. "Look, why would I be at somebody's house in the middle of the night and start a fire? I don't even know who lives there!"

"It's exactly what I'm asking." The officer said. It wasn't the same officer Rhodey had just spoken too. He was talking to the neighbors.

"I didn't do it." Tony said. "It was someone else."

"Who?"

"Aria."

"Is she an ex or something?"

Tony's eyes widened. "Whoa! No! S-she's a criminal. One of Iron man's villains."

"Well, I'll have her looked up." The officer said and began to turn around. Only to stop and turn around. "Wait. How do you know she's one of Iron man's criminals?"

"Uh...I saw her fighting Iron Man yesterday." Tony lied.

"Huh. Normally his fights are all on the news." The officer shrugged and walked away.

Tony sighed in relief and held the oxygen mask up to his mouth. Then removed it as the doctor said. He closed his eyes just in time for a hug from Pepper. A very squishing hug.

"Whoa, Pep! I'm fine." Tony said as she pulled back.

"You worried me to death! How could you do that! Why? Can't you _ever _stop getting hurt! What happened? This was like the last time you told us you were fine! You could have died! Everytime you get hurt you hide it from us! Are you afraid we'd laugh at you or something!-" Pepper ranted on and Tony let her.

He signaled for the other two, to just let her do her thing and yell at him. He knew it was bound to happen. He, at the moment actually wanted to scream at himself as well. He deserved to be yelled at. He needed to know what was bothering Pepper. He had to. It wouldn't only help Pepper get stuff off of her chest, but it would help him get the feeling that he was doing something wrong. He shouldn't have lied, he shouldn't have hid, he should have just told them that he was hurt. Than it'd be a whole lot easier.

"-Why? Why can't you just stop getting in trouble?" Pepper finished.

Tony looked down and Rhodey seemed to take a step closer to comfort his friend, but his mother held him back. "Just wait."

Pepper was breathing hard from her rant. Her mouth set in a straight line and her eyes were narrowed in frustration. She didn't want to yell at him to make him feel bad, just to teach him that it was wrong to lie to his best friends. Though she realized that she had made him feel guilty and she sighed.

Before she could talk anymore Tony looked back up. "Pepper, I know I've been stupid lately. I know I've put not only myself, but you and Rhodey in a stressful situation. I've lied, I've hid, I've lied some more. But if it would make you feel any better, I do it for a good reason. Mainly."

"Sorry, i-i didn't mean to-"

"Yes you did. And it worked. I've been stressed and depressed and I've hidden that from you, and just look what happens when you lie and hide things from you're best friend." He sighed and looked back down. "I have no right to do those things to you. Any of you. But so you know, I only do it cause sometimes it would distract us from something and then we'd lose a fight or something."

"Tony."

"Sorry, but it is true. But I'll do my best not to hide or lie unless needed."

They all stared at him not really expecting a full on confession. Rhodey sighed and took a seat next to his friend. Pepper did the same and Roberta only smile at the three of their friendship. They had something special, something good. They were close friends that were meant to be together. Never to be split.

As they sat there, with Tony being checked on every few minutes, they chatted. Tony told his story at what had happened and it made Pepper furious that Aria would act all gushy around Tony then just set him in the middle of a house fire. She was mainly mad about the being all gushy to Tony. After a while, the officer that questioned Tony as he got better returned.

"You were right. Aria is a criminal. But that doesn't prove that it was her that set the fire."

"Do you really think that I would trap myself in a building that was set on fire? Do I look that stupid? She dragged me there, accused me of meddling with her 'plans', then incapacitated me, and set the house on fire."

"You don't look like you hit your head or broke any bones." The officer observed.

Really? "No, she's a mutant. I don't know what she did to me, but it made me completely defenseless."

"Fine. You are free to go. Doctor says all your vitals and blood pressure is up and ready to go."

"Thanks."

Tony stood up slowly, and almost smiled that it had worn off. It must have been temporary just so that he was down long enough for the fire to grow. It worked and if it wasn't for Rhodey he'd be...well he'd be dead. He knew it to.

He walked normally and he wanted to laugh. He just wanted to laugh. What was so wrong with that? Though it was weird that he wanted to laugh, no cry, not complain, not sigh, but laugh. He wanted nothing to do but laugh, but he couldn't, that make him seem like a crazy person. It would make him crazy. He could have died and he _wanted _to laugh. He was smiling, yes, but laugh? That was just insane. Pure insanity. So he held his breath to make the feeling to laugh go away, but instead of helping him, he burst into laughter.

Rhodey did look at him like he was crazy, Pepper just looked a bit freaked out, and Roberta eyes him nervously. He continued to laugh, holding his stomach, as they walked to the car. He wouldn't stop laughing. Even as they stepped into the car, he didn't stop. He couldn't stop. He wanted to cause he knew just how it was making him look. But he just...couldn't. At least until Rhodey punched his arm demanding to know what was so funny.

He frowned and looked down, not sure why he was laughing. There was no reason, he just wanted to laugh. "I dunno."

"Then why were you laughing?" Pepper asked.

"I'm in a weird mood you guys. Lighten up. Oh I'm probably sleep deprived, cause I haven't had real sleep in ages." Tony said. "I'm going to get some before tomorrow."

Pepper who took a taxi asked to get a ride with them, and Roberta agreed. So with Rhodey in the front seat, and Tony and Pepper in the back seat, they drove away from the scene. It took merely minutes to get to Pepper's house and after they drove off, Tony had fallen asleep. It seemed like only seconds later that he was awoken from his sleep. He yawned and stepped out of the car and headed straight for the house. Straight to his bed.

The instant he landed on his bed he was sleeping in his bed soundly. He didn't really dream of anything like he usually would after getting hurt. He just tossed and turned and snored. When he woke up it was, of course, morning. He looked at his clock and sighed. He was late for school. Why didn't someone wake him up?

He quickly got up, skipped looking for food, and brushed his teeth, and ran to the door. But Roberta stopped him.

"Tony, I want you to stay at home today." Roberta told him.

He looked back at her skeptically. Like she was testing him. "Are you sure?"

"You barely had any sleep, and you were in a _fire _Tony. What do you expect?"

"...okay..."

He yawned. "Go back to bed." Roberta advised.

He nodded and did as told.

* * *

><p><strong>Time lapse<strong> (With Rhodey and Pepper)

School ended only seconds before and all the student were rushing to get out of class. Rhodey and Pepper were one of the only ones that didn't rush. They walked so it didn't really matter, but today they were a bit rushed. They wanted to be sure that Tony didn't do his 'speech' without them. Then Rhodey would be pissed. Pepper would also be mad. Tony would never have heard the end of it. Rhodey knew that his mom wanted Tony at home so that helped their feeling that Tony did exactly what they didn't want.

They were walking home just talking about what was going to happen. They talked about the possibilities. Pepper even thought that Tony would get arrested. Running they made their way home. Or to Rhodey's house. It didn't take as long as they expected, but they got home. And when they got there Tony was waiting for them.

"Hey Tony." Rhodey said.

"Hi." Tony replied.

"Wow. Something bothering you?" Pepper asked.

"No. It just that I think I know what I'm going to say."

**See what i mean? I delayed the ending...-.- And it sucks that i did, but i am seriously frustrated with my big brother cause he keeps reading over my shoulder and laughing so i stop writing when he comes into the room, which is almost constant, so i just thought i'd cut this in half and finish the next chapter some other time. And it doesn't help that my step dad is also trying to read it. I know i shouldn't be hiding it from my parents or siblings, but they find the silliest of things to laugh at me about. **

**Anyways i hope you liked it. I was also hoping to get help on one of my other stories. If you read 'armored memories' and your waiting for the next chapter, i'm sorry that i haven't finished that cause i can't figure out how to end it. I cannot what so ever, find a way to end it. So i'm at a dead end with that one and i am asking for help. SO please give me ideas in a PM or i guess even a review.  
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**Shout outs!  
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**Finny-Kun Goddes- Again i'm sorry for the wait on your villain. And Thank you sooo much for the review.  
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**Marvel789- Thanks XD I'm trying.  
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**Carpetbakr- Haha thanks ;p I enjoy detective work. But i'm not the best at it...**

**yurithefurry- Thanks! haha i try. Good ideas, i'll think about those!**

**Werewolverine- Love your idea and once i get through my list, i'll get to yours just hold on.  
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**Alice. Dreamer 15- Thank you! I'm updating things right now, so yea...I do need more villains, but not at the moment.  
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**PercyJacksonLover14- I'm glad that you are enjoying it! I enjoy writing this one! Thanks! ^.0  
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**There! Well i gotta go eat so...Biya! Review and love please!  
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	8. Shadows part 4final

**Ok sorry for the long wait. I have a pretty good excuse, though i'm not saying its right, but i've been out of town a few times and i dont get a lot of computer time now that the computer is in my parents room and i usually use the computer at night when they are all sleeping...so i cant use the computer at night anymore. But i'm saving up for a laptop and that will fix my problem. **

**Anyways, heres the next chapter and thanks for all the reviews. This is the final chapter of Aria and stuff. Finally!  
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**I own nothing so dont sue.  
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The three teens made their way to the center of New York City. The busiest part of New York. Tony was actually flying in his iron man suit above the taxi Pepper rode in. Rhodey flew at Tony's side as war machine. Tony knew what he was going to say, but he didn't know if it was the right thing to say. Part of him thought this may be a bad idea and that he should just go to Fury about all of this. But part of him still thought that giving out a warning was safest to the civilians, when he knew that the only thing Fury would do, would be to just look for Aria and not give a warning what so ever.

So he only shook his head determined to do this right. He wasn't the best at talking in public as iron man. Really he never spoke in front of large crowds, but maybe their wont be any huge crowds. He was only iron man. They say him like everyday, yet he knows just how much the reporters like having some kind of feed about iron man. And he had his own way of getting the feed onto the big screens. Sometimes he'd think it was funny how he just had to land and he already had like a hundred peoples attention. Just by landing, crashing, or even flying and fighting.

He probably would have already been there if he hadn't been slowing down to let the taxi carrying Pepper, keep up.

"You ready man?" Rhodey asked through the com systems.

"As ready as I could be." Tony replied.

They looked ahead and saw that they weren't far at all. And it was in no time at all that they were stepping out of the air and in the middle of the intersection. Some people honked their horns on their cars and trucks, and some people stepped out of their vehicles or looked over from the side walk. Some just chose to stay in their cars.

Tony and Rhodey held their arms up in apology. They waited for things to settle down and the shouts to end. By the time they were done, a reporter had shown up and helicopters flew over head. Tony messed with something a bit and the big screens all around New York City turned on. The feed that the reporter shown up on the screens. The reporters looked more shocked than anyone.

Still holding his arms up, Tony spoke as loud as he could. "Could I please ask if you either step out of your car or step closer to me, or listen very carefully? Maybe roll down your window or open your door?"

Pausing as he watched several people comply with his request. The reporters were the closest, but luckily not to close. So with people out of their cars and windows and doors open and bystanders standing closer, he spoke up again.

"I'm sorry-we're-sorry, to interrupt what you were doing. But it concerns your safety and I will not stand by while some of you could be hurt." He still had no idea if this was the right thing to say. He sighed and continued. "I definitely hope that I don't start a panic or something. Again I'm sorry, I'm no good speaking in public. Or at least long stuff...anyways, there's a person out there, her names Aria, or Shadow Fiend and she is here in New York. She targets people that are alone, so walking with nobody else but yourself, could be a danger. I'm not saying if you walk alone you'll be killed, but there's a chance."

He definitely didn't think he was saying this right. "I'm just asking to stick together or near some one and if you see a woman with black hair with green, purple...and gray hair wearing nothing but black, try not to be by her." Nope. "Sorry I'm horrible at speeches...well I'll get back to you when I've defeated her."

Taking a quick look around, He moved ready to fly off. "oh and I want there to be no panic, because it would cause me a lot of trouble."

Then along with Rhodey, he flew in to the air and entered the con systems again. "That was horrible, Rhodey."

"Yeah I know. I thought you said you knew what you were going to say." Rhodey said.

"Rhodey's right. You did say that." Pepper added when she joined in on her phone. She had gotten in another cab that she had go to the armory, or some place near the armory.

Tony sighed. "I did, it just came out wrong."

"So you choked." Rhodey said pointedly. "I thought you were good with words."

"I am good with words, but my mind was still scrambled from the fire, and the thought of Fury calling me during my so called speech, and the look of a few annoyed people, kinda bugged me."

"Bugged you?"

"Yeah, like disturbing me."

"Tony, don't be thinking that citizens are going to turn rampant on you." Pepper said.

"What? No I'm not thinking that." Tony said shaking his head as they neared the armory. "I just think I made them all late for something."

"So you're worried about them being late." She responded in a mono toned voice.

"Because of me."

"Well whats done is done, now lets get a move on with Aria." Rhodey said.

"Yeah but how do we find her? She's like those criminals that are only found if they want to be and you don't find them, they find you." Pepper added.

She was right. Aria was a hard one to catch. She hid in shadows, she controlled them really, and she didn't seem to have a point or a motive. Though Tony had noticed how she steered clear of talking about her past. So it probably had something to do with her past, but other than that she seemed pretty well done, or just a really crazy villain. Which most of them are. They must be pretty stupid to attack New York with Iron man and all. Seriously more than half of the criminals get caught within an hour and if their lucky a few hours. Pretty much all of them have been defeated at some point. Though they did break out of prison a lot.

"Well if she finds out Tony's still alive she'll probably be back for Tony." Rhodey said.

"She probably already knows. She's probably pissed for me leaving that warning. The horrible warning." Tony added in as they entered the armory and armored down and waited for Pepper to get back.

Tony instantly started to work on fixing a bit of things on the war machine armor. And than soon enough, Pepper was charging through the doors, panting.

"What did I miss." She said, hands on knees.

"Nothing much." Rhodey said from his perch, which was leaning against Tony's side, also which was annoying Tony.

"So you decide to upgrade war machine? What if Aria attacks and Rhodey needs an armor to help you?" Pepper questioned.

Tony sat back on his heels looking at his friends. "Its not an upgrade-"

"Aw why not!?" Rhodey asked spinning his head up to look at his friend.

Tony looked down. "Pepper's right. You wouldn't be able to do much in the middle of an upgrade, but I'm fixing something. You wouldn't really understand it, but its supposed to help with defense. So shielding. Since you know, your shielding has been awfully weak lately."

Rhodey sat up and walked over to Pepper. "Fine, but it's going to happen."

"Yes Rhodey. Once I'm sure that I'm getting a break from attacks on New York." Tony said turning back to his work.

Moments later Pepper was watching him over his shoulder as he worked. Rhodey finishing up homework that hadn't been able to get done lately, and even worked on Tony's homework for a bit, knowing that Tony really has been busy. Pepper would comment and ask a billion questions that any normal person would get annoyed of, but oddly it helped Tony work.

Later on, about two hours or so, Pepper had fallen asleep siting like Rhodey had been earlier, resting against his side, but when Tony, who was sitting on his knees, had moved, she'd fallen onto his lap. He remembered not knowing what the heck to do and had looked over to Rhodey for help, but he wasn't paying the slightest of attention to the other two teens.

"Rhodey!" He whisper shouted.

Marking his place in his book he looked up at his friends. He almost burst out laughing at what he saw. "What?"

Tony gestured to Pepper awkwardly. "What do I do?"

Rhodey chuckled. "Nothing. Just continue working."

Tony had opened his mouth to reply, but nothing came out. He looked down at Pepper, and sighed as he returned to his work, not understanding why he was supposed to do nothing. He thought maybe he should wake her up, or something, at least put her on something comfy, but the closest thing to comfy in the armory, was most likely the hospital bed. Which Pepper would probably be mad if she got put in that.

So he just worked. Later on, when she was still asleep his Phone rang. He had lifted Pepper's head to get it from his pocket and looked at the caller ID. _Unknown. _Cautiously he answered it.

"Hello?"

"Stark! What were you thinking!" A loud commanding voice almost shouted.

"Whoa! Fury? I-"

"Don't you tell me you didn't do anything. Cause I saw you're little parade down in Central New York."

"Are you yelling at me cause it was horrible? Cause I swear what I said wasn't supposed to be said. It was supposed to be something else, but from the fire I was in last night, my mind is a bit scrambled."

"Look just cause you come up with a plan-wait. Fire? What fire?"

"Aria. The villain I'm fighting, she's targeted me and she knows I'm Iron man. And she tried to kill me by putting me in an apartment and setting it on fire."

"Aria? The woman you've been going on about? I've heard of her. She's a mutant."

"I know... I found out the hard way." Tony said.

"Look, I'm letting you off easy this time. Next time you want to go public, try S.H.I.E.L.D. First."

"Next time."

"Well I am expecting to have Aria in Shield custody some time. So get to work on it." With that Fury hung up.

Tony put his phone away, and looked over at Rhodey who was looking at him curiously. "What was that all about?" Rhodey asked.

"That was Nick Fury. He was mad about my parade today about trying to go 'public'." Tony replied. "Also I have to get to work. He's also waiting for custody of Aria."

"Aren't you already working?" Rhodey asked.

"Yeah, on catching Aria though."

Rhodey nodded in understanding. "So is my armor ready to be up and flying?"

"Five more minutes." Tony said getting back to his project.

Pepper's eyes opened and for a moment, she forgot where she was. She blinked a few times and froze. She was laying on something soft and bumpy, yet the side of her head was against something hard and cold. All she could see was red and bits of gray. Yawning, she moved her head. Then the thing she was laying on, moved. That was when she remembered that she had fallen asleep against tony and she must have fallen onto his lap. She opened her mouth to say something and moved to get up, when Tony looked down realizing that she had woken up, she froze.

Her face went red and so did his own. He leaned back for he was leaning forward to finish his project and she got up. She laughed nervously. "Ha ha...sorry. You could have woken me up."

"I thought about it, but Rhodey told me not to do anything...So...i guess I listened." Tony said looking down.

"So...Whats going on now?"

"Finishing up my project than I'm going to be bait." Tony answered.

"That wasn't the plan." Rhodey said.

"There never was a plan." Tony replied.

"I know, but she could kill you." Rhodey said.

Tony pushed back from his project and stood up. "Done – I know she could, can, kill me. I just decided that if I had you around in the stealth armor, than you could help, because I've modified it to last longer in a fight."

"So that's the plan?" Rhodey and Pepper both said.

"Yep. I go out alone somewhere, and hope that she comes for me. Than I can also have Pepper here, auto pilot the armor to me while you hold her off."

"Why not use your backpack armor?" Pepper asked.

"I think she knows about that one...Well I'll take it then, but if anything goes wrong, I want you, Pepper, to auto pilot the armor back here, and take it to aria and attack her."

Pepper smiled and laughed loudly. "Yay!"

"Only if something goes wrong. Lets say both me _and _Rhodey are down and not getting up." Tony warns.

Pepper only waves her hand making a _Pft_ sound. "I know!"

Tony raised one eyebrow and shook his head. "Anyways I better get going."

"Wait," Rhodey said look at Tony. "why am I going in on the stealth armor?"

"It's in the name Rhodey." Tony said pointedly.

"No, not that. It's just remember the last time I went in an iron man suit?" Rhodey warned.

"You fly around in an iron man suit calling it war machine."

"I know, and you named it, but the stealth armor looks more like Iron man. Your suit is harder to get around in. Much faster as well."

Tony sighed. "Rhodey, the first time you used the iron man armor, was you first time. You've had practice, and I'm not asking you to fly every where, I'm asking you to protect me if she makes a move to attack me. So armor up and drop me off, go in stealth mode and fly off somewhere close enough to hear."

"Fine." Rhodey said finally.

He moved to armor up. Pepper got in her seat for the plan. Tony grabbed his backpack hoping his plan would work. Rhodey finished getting his armor on and walked over to Tony. "This better work or I swear-"

"You swear what?" Tony asked.

"I won't help you with these plans."

"Well I'll always have Pepper. She's more than happy to armor up."

"Hes right." Pepper chimed in.

Rhodey just sighed and picked Tony up. He flew out the tunnel that led outside and out to the city. He swerved a bit, but he never crashed. Tony loved flying and all, but it was scary being on the outside of the armor with the thought in his head that they were going to crash at some point. He got lucky and they didn't.

They landed somewhere in the center of the city and Rhodey just set Tony down and flew off in stealth mode somewhere nearby. Tony stood there in the middle of the street sometimes he'd begin to pace, then he'd call Rhodey cause he was bored. He'd even call Pepper. Roberta had called telling him to come home cause it was late, but he didn't care, he told her he was super busy and would be home a bit late and Rhodey was helping him. Pepper had fallen asleep at her perch at some point.

Rhodey just about had enough of just 'floating' there. He was still annoyed that he was part of this dangerous plan. It also had something to do with the fact that he couldn't wear his own armor and was stuck in the unsteady feeling stealth armor. He still didn't understand how Tony flew in it so well. Though it made sense since he was using the armor for almost a year longer than him.

He was about to lose his stealth mode and fly down to Tony and just fly off to the armory with him, when he heard a loud "Oof!" He looked down at Tony, which he should have been doing moments ago, and saw he was no longer on the side walk and passerby's looked confusedly into the alleyway calling out if he was okay.

Rhodey looked around more and saw that Tony was being dragged by Aria, who was pulling him by the backpack's straps. Rhodey hesitated and waited for the right moment. She stopped once she knew she was far enough into the alley away from any other person and shoved Tony against the wall beside them. Tony had his eyes shut, and she was smirking though she looked almost furious.

"Why'd you do it? Huh?" She hissed.

"Do what?"

"Make that rediculous announcement. You just embarrassed yourself." She laughed out as she grabbed his neck. "Look at me."

"No."

Rhodey chose that moment, knowing at any given moment she was going to find a way to get him to open his eyes, and Rhodey wasn't about to let that happen. Not under his watch. So he dropped down and fired a repulsor at her. She was thrown away from Tony and Rhodey shot her again and she fell against a dumpster.

Tony, luckily, took that moment to armor up. He fired at her and she moved out of the way before she was hit. She had that odd looking silver cylinder out. Lucky for her, she was surrounded by tons of shadows. She collected them and dodged as the two armored heroes fired their repulsors at her. Raising her arm, she whipped it down hitting Tony in the chest, sending him flying into a wall. She turned to Rhodey.

Just as she was about to whip at him, she was grabbed around the waist and thrown into a wall. "Payback!"

Tony flew up to Rhodey and they both started to fire random stuff at her. Repulsors, uni-beams, gun fire. Some hit her some didn't. She would hit one of them at some point and sometimes she'd get both, but one of them always got up.

Later on still in the fight enough to still not know who was winning and who was losing, she pulled out something from her surplus of pockets. There was a blue sort of glow in the alley and she threw a blue ball looking thing at Rhodey. Rhodey turned to dodge it, but his hand hit slightly and it exploded. He crashed into the wall, breaking a window, and then to the ground. The armor's glove on his right hand broke off and it took him a moment to get up. Tony shot Aria with a powerful repulsor and helped his friend.

"Need any help yet?" Pepper asked over the com system.

"Not yet Pep." Tony said turning to Aria who was getting up. In her hands was a pistol and some sort of peashooter.

Tony looked at them warily trying to figure out what they were for. Not the pistol, but the peashooter. He saw something like that before, but he couldn't place where. He shook his head and aimed one of his missiles at her. Just as he shot, she shot either the pistol or the peashooter at Rhodey. She was slammed back into a dumpster, and she fell to her knees and she looked up at Rhodey and smirked as she watched him hold his hand. She knew she hit him, but she just wanted to be sure.

Tony not noticing what she was smirking about picked her up by the jacket. She only laughed.

"What are you laughing about. You lost."

"Not quite." She smiled.

"What do you mean?"

"Look for your self."

She gestured with her head in Rhodey's direction. Tony, after tightening his grip on her, look at his friend. He was on his knees holding his wrist while looking at his hand. Tony eyed his hand as well and saw a dart had lodged itself into his hand around the bottom of his thumb, on his palm. Rhodey slowly pulled it out and looked at it before falling back onto the ground. Tony nearly dropped Aria as his friend fell.

Though he didn't. He shook her. "What did you do!?"

"Poison." She said simply.

His heart dropped. "What kind. Does it have an antidote? Please!"

"Awe, you sound so adorable when your desperate." She said patting his head. He jerked away.

"Shut up. Tell me!"

She sighed. "You are no fun." She looked at Rhodey with a smile. "There is one..."

"What is it!?"

"Where's the fun in that?"

Tony pressed her against the wall they were standing by. "Please."

She rolled her eyes. "Since you said please. It was a tested poison down at some facility in D.C. They also have the antidote. But the place is highly guarded and don't like being disturbed."

"What facility."

"The most popular one in D.C. About 1 mile away from the capitol building."

Tony looked down. His voice quieter now, "How long does he have?"

"I don't know...I've told you quite a bit I don't think-"

"Please...Please."

She looked at him for a moment. For a moment she thought about herself. She remembered she had a friend when she was only 6. They were like best friends until she was kicked out of her home. She was only 9. Her friend was the only one who didn't shun her. Everyone else did. She never understood why her friend didn't react to her like the others did even before they found out she was a mutant. She shut her old life in and planned to get revenge on humans. They didn't understand how tough it was to be a mutant even when you didn't want to be one.

She looked at Tony his eyes were filled with dread as he came to terms with his friend's condition. He went from serious and tough while fighting his villain, to desperate and pleading to the point of begging. She was no sap, but she understood friendship. At least enough to show pity, she still didn't like Tony in fact she still hated him and was glad he was in dread. But she wasn't low enough to just let it go.

She sighed in frustration with herself. She hated that she had to have a soft spot. "Fine." she spat. "I'm not exactly sure, but I just stole the poison, saw the antidote, which was labeled, and saw the chart for a second. I'm pretty sure it said around 24 to 36 hours."

Tony's eyes closed and his grip faltered. He opened his eyes and tried to get a hold of Pepper.

"Pepper." A few moments passed and Aria spent them looking into space. "Pepper!"

A loud sound filled his armor and a yelp. "Huh! What? Tony?"

"Were you asleep?" Tony asked making sure Aria didn't try to run off.

"Yeah. I'm tired sorry. What I miss."

"A lot." Tony admitted. "Rhodey got poisoned. I need you to remote control him to follow me."

At the armory, Pepper paled knowing exactly what was happening. She also knew what the future held for them until Rhodey got better. Tony blaming himself and going insane to find something to help his best friend. Lots of stress.

"Okay." She finally said and noticed Tony had set two timers. One set for 24 hours and the other for 36 hours.

Tony only nodded and picked Aria up like an infant similar to how he had held Whitney with the whole madam Masque deal. He grabbed the dart and then he flew off his eyes on Rhodey as Pepper auto-piloted him to follow Tony. Tony sighed in relief and flew off dialing the unknown number that Fury used to call him earlier.

"Stark. You got her?" Fury's mono toned voice sounded.

"Yes."

"In what condition. I swear if she's dead-"

"She's not dead. I don't kill. But Rhodey..."

"What about Rhodes."

Tony hesitated. He figured Fury would just tell him to deal with it and watch in the sidelines as his friend died. "H-he got...he got poisoned..."

There was a pause. "Do you know with what?"

"Aria has it with her. She mentioned something..."

"What was it Stark? Tell me I need to know. I can get the antidote if I know what poison it is."

"Tell you when I get there."

"Wait? Your coming to us? Do you even know where we are?"

"Now I do."

Tony hung up and made sure his grip was secure around Aria and sped up. He didn't know at first, but it was hard to miss it when the helicarrier was huge and in the middle of the city. It didn't take long til her was at the helicarrier and boarding it. Rhodey was close behind him and the instant Aria was stripped of weapons, she was taken from shield agents and Tony armored down as Pepper took Rhodey's armor off. Tony caught Rhodey before he hit the ground and supported him.

Tony slung Rhodey's arm over his shoulder and slipped his hand around him and under his arm. He looked around to see if anyone was around to help. Fortunately Fury had noticed that Tony had stuck around and had approached the teens.

"Stark. Explain."

"He was hit by a bomb that knocked his glove off. Then she had managed to get him with a dart..." Tony took a deep breath and looked at his pale friend. "I-i should've noticed. I could've saved him..."

Fury placed a hand on Tony's shoulder. "It's not your fault. It was Aria's. Now what was it that shot the dart?"

"Not the...not the pistol, the peashooter or whatnot. She said something stealing something from a...a facility in D.C. It was two-no-one mile away from the capitol building. Heavily guarded and don't like..."

"Don't like what." Fury asked when Tony paused.

"Don't like to be bothered...He has 24 to 36 six hours she was unsure. But she sounded pretty sure that the antidote was there too...it was a tested poison."

Fury made a sound of disgust. "I get testing weapons and guns, and even makeup, but poison? that's just wrong."

Fury called in for help on Rhodey and Tony made to call Roberta to tell her he was going to be later than he thought. Pepper had called to say she was going home and she hoped that Rhodey would be okay. Tony was told to go home, but he didn't listen and sat stubbornly at Rhodey bed side as he was placed in a hospital bed.

Fury had tried to convince him that they had in under control and that he had agents heading to the facility at that moment, but Tony just said thanks, and sat still looking to his friend with fear. Tony didn't fear much, but when it came to stressful times when his friends were hurt and it was because of him, he broke down.

He had almost decided that only after 20 minutes that he should just go as iron man to the facility and he almost did. But Fury had set Black Widow to guard him. So he just sat there worrying about his best friend for hours as he waited for something different to happen. Doctor came in and checked on Rhodey's condition and some made to call Roberta about his condition. At first Tony had fought them about doing that, but after Rhodey he saw Rhodey's hand, that was shot he changed his mind and let them. Rhodey's hand where he was shot was starting to darken, and lines started to spread out as the poison settled into his systems.

Tony squeezed his hand not feeling like he wanted to sleep. He needed it, but he didn't care. He wanted his friend safe and sound at home in his own bed. Not poisoned and dying. Though at one point Fury, for Tony's health had the doctors give him sleeping meds. Normally he wouldn't have interfered like that, but knowing how much villains he's been beating, he needed it.

The last thing Tony saw as his eyes forced themselves closed, was light as the door opened and someone with a blue shirt on walk into the room.

**I hope i did a good job at this. I was a bit worried that it would sound rushed. How was it? **

**Schools coming up for me, though really only on sept 4th, but we live about 45 minutes away from any decent school shopping store so we can't go shopping til next week or the next... But with school i won't have as much time. Seriously, cause during school my parents go to bed way to early. So yes after september 4th, i will not be updating much, but i'll try. But some where in october after my birthday, i should have a laptop or else i'll have to wait til christmas...  
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**Well, just thought i'd warn you. Finny-Kun Goddess your villain is up next and i don't know how long it will be til its up. But i'm working on it.  
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**Thanks for reading and reviewing hope you guys still will stick with me.  
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**Oh and on my profile i have a poll, its not related to this, but i was just asking if you could look at it and help. You don't have to, just asking thanks! :)  
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	9. poisoned

**So as i said in my other story, that i was going to work on this and baby Genius, (which is also close to being finished.) I'm going to keep this a bit short for i'm running low on time (as always). But there is lots of emotion and i fear that it wasn't good enough, but i'm pretty confident that you guys would like it. Oh and lots of Pepperony! **

**Oh and Finny-Kun Goddess, sorry AGAIN! That i didn't get to your villain yet, but i couldn't find a way to find a way to start it yet, so i just decided to do this whole thing on RHodey being poisoned and Tony's way of coping. i guess...  
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**So nothing is mine, and i know characters are OoC, but thats how it has to be.  
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For a moment all Tony felt was a huge headache and a sore throat. Then he felt the heaviness of his eyes and the threat to fall back asleep. So when he opened his eyes to be in a dark room and not being able to remember what happened before he fell asleep.

As his eyes adjusted, he remembered exactly what he didn't want to remember. Rhodey was poisoned. Then he remembered the time limit and had shot up out of the chair he was sleeping in and spun around to find a clock. Though before he could do just that, he bumped into someone.

"Whoa!" He cried out in surprise.

He blinked and looked closely at the person ahead of him. In the dark it was difficult to see whether or not it was someone he knew, but he recognized the blue shirt. His eyes adjusted even more to the dark lighting and he could have smiled in relief.

"Tony, you're awake." Roberta said with slight shock. "They said you wouldn't wake for another hour."

"They..?" Tony asked looking around and took in the all to similar Shield infirmary.

"Shield doctors. You needed rest, so they helped you."

Not sure how to respond to that, he narrowed his eyes. "Why is it so dark in here?"

"Nothing important really. Its just that the lights burnt out. Terrible timing if you ask me."

They stood in silence until someone opened the door holding a flash light. The hallway lights were on and it lit up the room. Fury came in soon after.

"He's just fixing the lights." He said.

Tony didn't answer, cause there really was no answer to that kind of comment. So he looked to the spot where he last saw his friend. For a second he feared that he wasn't going to be there, but felt tremendous relief when he noticed the short breaths being took as the blankets rose and fell.

"How long was I asleep?" He asked breaking the silence.

"Not long if that's what your worrying about. 6 to seven hours. Lost count at some point." Fury responded.

Tony swallowed. "Did you even get the antidote while I was 'sleeping'." He asked emphasizing _sleeping._

"Not quite, _but,_" He held his hand up when he saw that Tony was about to speak. "We got an agreement from the facility to get the antidote."

Tony sat back down filled with relief.

The lights switched on and Tony looked straight to Rhodey to get a clear look. There wasn't much difference than before. Rhodey was still pale, the dark lines still continued to spread, and he didn't seem anywhere close to waking up.

He sighed and closed his eyes for a minute. He couldn't bring himself to believe that Shield was getting the antidote. Neither could he help himself but think that this was Fury's sick way of telling Tony that he should learn to let go of things or that Rhodey was doomed. It wasn't something he could stop, his dad would've told him it was natural.

When he opened his eyes Fury and the person who fixed the lights were gone. The door was closed once again and he and Roberta were left in silence. At least until Pepper walked through the door.

"Hey Tony." She said in a cheery yet very tired voice.

"Pepper what are you doing here?"

"Rhodey is my friend too you know." She said sitting on an empty chair.

"I know, but isn't it late?"

"I guess, but that's not stopping you."

Tony sighed, giving up. "Okay, fine. Hey Pep."

"How are you doing?" She asked moving her chair closer to him.

"I'm going to go home and get some sleep." Roberta said before Tony could reply to Pepper.

Roberta was gone before anyone could say goodbye. So Tony just looked back to Pepper. "I'm fine."

"Tony you know that saying 'I'm fine' is just a lie meaning 'I'm not okay.'"

Tony looked down, his eyes filled with dread. He looked to Pepper looking for a reason not to believe her. She was right though. He wasn't okay. He wasn't fine. He was beyond not okay. He just didn't want to worry Pepper. She had enough to worry about.

As he saw that her face was set and not looking as if she was about to change the subject. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but nothing came out. His chest felt heavy and the back of his throat burned. He took a deep shaky breath and closed his eyes and repeated until he was calmer.

"Pep, I...i just don't know what to do." He finally said.

"Sure you do." She said with confidence, but with a hidden doubt.

"I don't, Pep," He nearly snapped. "I have no idea if I should go ask questions or go to the facility myself! I don't trust Fury, I just don't."

"He saved your life, Tony." Pepper said looking down confused to how to comfort him when he was this down.

"Okay so he saved _my_ life, but how can I be positive that he actually got the antidote on the way ready to use on Rhodey? How am I supposed to know if my best friend that's basically my brother, is going to be alright?" His voice began to crack. "I don't know what to think about all of this. I mean I could've helped with something, but instead they put me to sleep. And while I was 'sleeping', something could've happened to Rhodey, Pep."

He was now standing up facing the complete opposite direction of Pepper, with his head down and his left hand was pinching the bridge of his nose.

Pepper continued to sit in her chair looking to her best friend. She could see that he was stressed again. Maybe even more this time. Though she couldn't just rant this out of him. He just did that himself, but it was still stuck in him. It was still all bottled up, ready to explode. He looked close to actually snapping.

"Tony..." She started as she stood up, slowly making her way to Tony. "If you need to talk about something, you can talk to me."

Tony shook his head. "No."

"Please, I can't stand seeing you like this."

"Like what, Pep?" He said quietly.

"All...stressed. Your putting yourself in a hole, that will be hard to dig yourself out of Tony. I just want to help. I can't stand that this is all but pulling you apart."

"He's my best friend."

"He is." She agreed. "He also wouldn't want you to fall apart because he got hurt."

There was a pause. She knew he was thinking because she could practically see the gears in his head spinning. She was close to being straight behind him, but more to the left of him so she could see that he was biting his lip in thought. His eyes still closed.

She reached out and pulled his hand away from his face and turned him to face her. She pulled him into a hug, and a tight on at that. She closed her eyes a small smile playing at her lips as she smelt the sweet smell that Tony always had when he took a shower. For a moment he didn't move and Pepper feared he didn't want a hug, but when his arms slipped around her, she literally smiled. He squeezed her back just as tight. As if he was never going to let go. Not in the life time or in any other.

A moment later, she moved her head and looked up to him. Brown eyes found and met blue eyes and held them for a good long time. Her eyes shown with hope and worry, while his own eyes shined with despair, worry, pain, and guilt. But she noticed just a hint, a very tiny one, of hope.

She waited a second before she stood on her tiptoes, moved her arms to Tony's neck, and placed her own lips to his. He started to pull back in shock, but she just moved with him. For another moment he stood there frozen as if to be frozen forever, but soon enough, he kissed her back. It wasn't a very intense kiss, but it sure wasn't just a simple kiss. It was more than that.

They had continued to kiss until, there was a knock at the door before it began to open. The two broke apart with a blush. They stood almost side by side as they watched Nick Fury and two other Shield agents.

"Am I interrupting something?" He asked observing their faces.

Tony shook his head while Pepper said, "Not at all."

Fury raised an eyebrow in doubt. He was a spy, he was a special agent, it wasn't like he was blind. He did have one eye, but that didn't mean anything. "uh huh...Well I've got some good news."

Before Fury could continue Tony sat down looking away from the commotion and to his sick best friend. Pepper looked at him with worry then back to Fury. "Sorry."

"Apology is not needed, Potts. I understand, someone he cares about deeply is very ill, and doesn't know who to trust. But I've come with some news. I got a call from some special agents of mine, they have the antidote and will be here in only a matter of hours."

Pepper sighed in relief and turned to look at Tony who didn't show any sign what-so-ever that he was paying attention.

Fury turned back to the door and opened in as his two agents went through it he turned around. "And Tony?"

Tony turned his head around slightly.

"Keep an eye on this one, promise me that." It wasn't a question it was a statement.

"Promise." Tony whispered almost too quiet to be understood.

With That director Fury left the room, leaving the two teens in a _very _awkward silence.

…

It was a few hours later, about 4 hours to be closest to exact and things were the same. No antidote yet. Looking to the two timers he set on his phone, one said he had about 17 hours left and the other said there was 29 hours left. A long time left, but still. It was getting bright outside and Tony and Pepper had fallen asleep.

Ever since they kissed, they were in a bit of an awkward situation. Pepper wanted to talk to him, but in kissing him, she lost all her bravery. She worried that he wasn't going to listen to her or that he was mad. She feared that he didn't like her the way she liked him. She loved him, but she couldn't just up and say that she loves him. At least until she knows if he likes her back. Which she seriously doubted.

Tony had similar emotions, only in questions. '_Why would Pepper kiss me?_' or '_Does she actually love me?_'. He didn't understand really much of what was going on. He was wondering if she loved him as he loved her. But his usually smart brain couldn't wrap itself around the fact that it was _her _that kissed him. He thought for sure she was going to find a love elsewhere. Somewhere that she would be safe, but she kissed him. _Did she just kiss me to keep stress away or was it real? _He had questioned in his mind.

When they woke up they got food and chatted a bit, but it wasn't for long. Agents were constantly moving from one place to another. They also returned to some doctors checking up on Rhodey.

Not long later they were given the antidote by the earlier mentioned special agents. It was given to Rhodey through a shot and Tony watched in eagerness as did Pepper. They were both excited to see their best friend alive and well.

…

(Two hours later)

A low groan sounded in the silent room that was filled with expectation. It was only a minute before the two teens and the mother of James Rhodes, were leaning over the bed as Rhodey's eyes opened.

"Oh my-" Tony wasn't even able to finish. He had rushed in and hugged the still dazed Rhodey. "You're okay...You're okay..."

**SO I hope it was good! I'm still running short on time, but Review, and all that, next up will be your villain i promise! Just give me time. So gotta go, and just you wait for more updates this weekend, cause i believe i am open this weekend...hopefully that wont get changed since my birthday is next tuesday! ANYWAYS bye!**


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